NCJ Number
193398
Date Published
April 2002
Length
83 pages
Annotation
This document provides information on drug abuse trends in the United States.
Abstract
The Pulse Check report is based on telephone discussions with epidemiologists, ethnographers, law enforcement officials, and methadone and non-methadone treatment providers from 20 sites. Conducted between November 2001 and January 2002, results revealed that, when comparing spring and fall 2001, the majority of sources believed their communities’ drug abuse problem to be very serious but stable. The September 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent events had varied short- and long-term effects on illegal drug availability, trafficking routes and modes, local marketing strategies, and use patterns in 16 of the 20 sites. Twenty-seven sources in 17 sites perceived heroin surpassing crack as the drug associated with the most serious consequences. The number of female heroin users increased in four cities, where sources were increasingly seeing gender equity among a number of chronic drug users. Marijuana remained the most widely abused illicit drug, as reported by 35 sources in 18 sites. Methamphetamine continued to be reported as an emerging problem in several sites. Most respondents continued to link methamphetamine sellers to domestic violence, more so than with any other drug. The emerging diversion and abuse problem involving OxyContin had spread to all but two sites and was associated with serious consequences. OxyContin is a controlled-release formulation of the pharmaceutical opiate oxycodone. OxyContin abuse and diverted sales continued to emerge in the rave and nightclub scenes in seven cities: Boston, Detroit, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Sioux Falls. Ecstasy or MDMA continued to be an emerging problem in the majority of sites. 56 exhibits, 5 appendices