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Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Ind. Law - Part 4 of "Grappling with Meth in Elkhart County"
Updating this ILB entry from yesterday, today's story in the Elkhart Truth series, reported today by Kari Huus, is headed "Meth problem strains budgets." A quote:
Substance abuse and addiction cost federal, state and local governments at least $467 billion annually according to a recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Nearly 96 percent of that is spent on the "human wreckage" of substance abuse -- including drug-related crime, incarceration, health care, foster care. About 1.9 percent goes to prevention and treatment, the report says.Due to state and local budget problems spurred on by the recession, law enforcement, courts, and prison systems are strapped. Treatment and prevention programs -- underfunded, advocates say, even in better times -- are struggling with shrinking resources.
"The recession has been really tough for providers as well as patients," said Daniel Guarnera, director of government relations for NAADAC, a national association for addiction professionals.
In Elkhart, meth is not the only illegal drug, but it is the one that has dealt the hardest blow to its working class gut, bringing down many men and women who staffed the area's RV factories. And over the course of the recession, at least one aspect of the problem has worsened: By mid-November, Elkhart County had discovered more than 100 meth labs this year, compared to 75 in 2008, and 77 from 1999 through 2006, according to State Police records.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 2, 2009 09:50 AM
Posted to Indiana Law