Abuse

Marijuana is the most widely available and abused illicit drug in the HIDTA region; however, law enforcement officials report that marijuana trafficking and abuse do not pose as great a threat as the trafficking and abuse of other drugs such as heroin, crack cocaine, and powder cocaine, particularly since marijuana is not often associated with violent crime. Treatment providers report that cocaine, particularly crack cocaine, is still the drug of choice among abusers in Ohio. Additionally, the total number of individuals who receive publicly funded treatment for powder and crack cocaine abuse remains higher than that for any other drug except marijuana. Heroin abuse is increasing in the Ohio HIDTA region; the number of individuals who receive publicly funded treatment for heroin has nearly tripled since 1997, and more than 9 percent of all treatment cases involved heroin abuse in 2006, compared with 3.6 percent a decade ago. Further, a recent study on heroin abuse by the Ohio Substance Abuse Monitoring Network (OSAM) indicates that heroin is widely available and increasingly abused, especially by young people in the state.

Pharmaceutical drug abuse remains stable at high levels throughout the HIDTA region, with OxyContin reportedly the most abused drug. Most abusers crush OxyContin to defeat the drug's time-release mechanism and then inhale the powder; however, in Cuyahoga County many abusers have switched to injecting the drug. Additionally, treatment providers in Dayton report that the abuse of buprenorphine increased during the 6-month period ending in June 2006. According to OSAM, many users buy the drug illegally on the street, not for the purpose of getting high, but, rather, to lessen the symptoms associated with withdrawal from narcotic drugs such as heroin and OxyContin.

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