NCJ Number
207651
Date Published
September 2004
Length
43 pages
Annotation
This report presents an overview of the prevalence and characteristics of methamphetamine use and abuse in Illinois' Second Judicial Circuit; compares these patterns to those in the statewide population; and suggests how measures of methamphetamine use and abuse could be more effectively identified, gauged, monitored, and analyzed.
Abstract
In 2003, counties within the Second Judicial Circuit were significantly less populated than most regions of the State; however, between 1994 and 2003, arrests for all drug-law violations nearly quadrupled in the circuit, from 570 to 2,232. By 2003, the total drug arrest rate of 1,108 arrests per 100,000 population was 29 percent higher than the statewide rate. In 1994, the circuit had a methamphetamine-seizure rate more than 10 times higher than the statewide rate; the circuit accounted for one-third of all methamphetamine seized in rural counties in the State. Clandestine methamphetamine labs have been seized in all 12 counties within the circuit during the period examined. In 2003, the circuit had a meth-lab seizure rate nearly eight times higher than the statewide rate. Between fiscal years 1996 and 2003, the number of new court commitments for methamphetamine offenses in the circuit increased from 1 to 47 commitments, while the proportion of statewide commitments for methamphetamine offenses remained relatively stable. Admissions to treatment for methamphetamine abuse within the circuit accounted for an increasing proportion of such treatment admissions statewide, from 12 percent in fiscal year 1994 to 29 percent in fiscal year 2003. 11 figures, 6 maps, 12 tables, and a 7-item bibliography