Policymakers and officials have narrowed down the demographics in terms of who uses meth on a statistically significant scale. Although meth addiction crosses boundaries of age, race, gender and ethnicity, profiles of users in the most common categories, according to officialsand experts, include:
1. High school and college students and college athletes
2. White, blue-collar workers and men and women in their 20s and 30s who are jobless
3. Gay men and Youth (see related article on risk of HIV)
4. Young adults who attend "raves" or private clubs are increasingly using methamphetamine.
5. People in occupations that demand long hours, mental alertness, and physical endurance, have been using this drug at increased rates.
Meth abuse occurs across rural and urban boundaries. Usage is divided equally among both women and men. According to KCI, the national, government-run anti-meth site, the following pinpoints the demographics of users in terms of age:
Under the age of 18: 24 percent
18-23 years old: 35 percent
23-30 years old: 19 percent
30-40 years old: 13 percentAge
40 and above: six percent
WHO IS MOST VULNERABLE?
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- Diana Rodgers, BlogSpot
WHO'S USING
METH FACT: Meth causes approximately twelve times more dopamine to release than food or sex.
COLLEGE KIDS:
Hornickel, a college junior at Creighton University in Omaha, seemed to have it all. She was a member of a sorority, she was in a business fraternity and she had a job.Her family in rural Ord, Neb., said she was a star student and athlete. She was in the drama club, sang in the choir and was a cheerleader...MORE
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES:
Christopher Bartley, a senior officer with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Police Services, caused a massive explosion in a building on the NIST campus while trying to cook meth July 19...MORE
POLICE OFFICERS:
That night I go back to my apartment — a simple, neat one-bedroom with a view of the pool and, beyond that, the serene, blue-green ocean. I sit on my couch, reflecting on my big score that day.
Then I take out my pipe and stash of meth and light up.
I’m a cop, a meth addict and a hypocrite — I’d been high that morning when I arrested a man for the offense I was guilty of." ...MORE
METH FACT: “The decrease in methamphetamine indicators after the 2006 ban on the sale of large quantities of pseudoephedrine to produce the illicit drug reversed in 2008,” says Dr. Maxwell. “Indicators are now (in 2015) at similar or higher levels than ever seen in Texas.”