Story Created:
Oct 26, 2007 at 4:40 PM MDT
Story Updated:
Oct 26, 2007 at 4:40 PM MDT
Dr. Neeraj Soni has spent the last six years working here at St. Luke's Emergency Room. And even then, he was seeing a lot of patients with methamphetamine problems, "The problem has grown over the last few years, " says Dr. Soni.
In fact, Dr. Soni says any day of the week, at any time of the day, walk into any ER in the Treasure Valley and you'll see someone with a meth problem.
In a 2006 study by the National Association of Counties nearly half of two hundred hospitals around the country reported meth is the number one illegal drug associated with their emergency rooms patients. At St Lukes Dr. Soni says it's a problem that keeps growing.
Dr. Soni believes the problem goes beyond the people who are addicted. "It doesn't just cost Idaho money for treating the addiction, I think it costs everybody a lot of money they don't realize they're spending for the additional social services required to help these patients," says Dr. Soni.
That's because it's taxpayer money used in the legal, medical, and foster care systems to help these people try and overcome their addiction. "It's clearly one of the hardest drugs of abuse to get off of," says Dr. Soni.
But there is some good news. A few years back, Idaho state lawmakers required all products containing pseudeophedrine, a major ingredient in meth, to be put behind pharmacy counters. And Megan Ronk with the Idaho Meth Project says it's had a big effect. "That's had a fairly significant impact on homegrown manufacture of methamphetamine in our state, " says Ronk.
Ronk says since the new law was passed, there's been a big drop in home meth labs across the state, and she claims the reason is not being able to get pseudeophedrine in large quantities. But, that's not stopping meth from coming into the state. Ronk says, " Now most of the supply that is coming into Idaho is through the drug cartel."
Here are some cold hard facts about meth in Idaho:
*80% of child placements by Health and Welfare are directly related to drug use... with meth being the most prevalent.
*63% of Idaho felony drug court participants say meth is their drug of choice.
*52% of inmates in Idaho prisons link meth use to their incarceration.
*Idaho spends 66 million dollars a year to house inmates who admit to having a meth addiction.
