Oregon Drug Rehab Blog

In a day and age where we as Americans are suffering through one of the worst economies in memory, its nice to have some good news.  Oregon is one of the only states in the country to see the use of Methamphetamine going down.   This is huge in the face of the fact that with a bad economy, crime rates and drug usage are going up in most other parts of the country.  In the nation, Meth labs are back and back with a vengeance, California being one of the states affected the most.  So what is diffent in Oregon?

There a couple of key factors.  First, Oregon has gone a different route that the old "war on drugs/scared straight approach" and is actually giving the facts and educating the citizens.  The key here is educating, not criticizing.  Just the facts and an educated population are making a big difference in the views of individuals with respect to the dangers of Methamphetamine.  Along with education, is the use of drug courts and drug rehab centers being used to help people addicted to meth.

Next, and most important, Oregon is the only state in the country to completely ban the sale of pseudoephedrine as an over the counter drug.  In Oregon, the drug is only able to be gotten by prescription.  Pseudoephdrine is the key ingredient in the production of meth and the decrease in the availability of the drug is crippling the ability for Meth to be produced.  No other state has done so and the rates of Methamphetamine abuse and crime associated with it keep increasing.  The logical question from all this is, "why dont other states do the same thing and ban pseudoephedrine as well?".  The answer is easy, money.  Drug companies make a lot of money from the sale of the drug that gets so many people addicted and that makes Oregon’s legislature’s stand even that more impressive.

Now, the fight with meth is far from over as it continues to be, by far, the most used illicit drug in the state.  Nevertheless, the change in the right direction is nothing short of amazing and is very well received.  Along with the decrease in Meth production and usage, the crime rates have dropped as well.  Not to say that this is due to the reduction in Meth production solely, but it surely has to be a huge factor in this as well.  With a big fight still ahead of the state, at lease Oregon is heading in the right direction.

Tags: meth addiction, oregon drug rehab

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.