As smuggled meth has spread across the United States, it’s now reaching a new generation that hasn’t experienced firsthand the lethal and addictive nature of the drug. Preventive action at the state and community levels is essential to stopping this growth. Parents, teachers, and community leaders can take a stand against this drug to prevent meth from becoming the drug of choice for this new generation. One recent study shows that the number of people who use meth for the first time has stayed fairly stable in the past few years. From 2015 to 2018, the number of people who used meth for the first time hovered around two hundred thousand a year. Another study shows a steady, and somewhat dramatic, increase in meth use since it bottomed out in 2008. Because stimulant use has grown following opioid epidemics in the past, experts speculate the number of first-time users will continue to rise unless education and intervention efforts are maintained.
