Abuse

Illicit drug abuse levels in the Northwest HIDTA region are high. According to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, admissions to publicly funded treatment facilities for methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin abuse increased in the Northwest HIDTA region from 2003 through 2005, the latest year for which such data are available. Ice methamphetamine accounts for the most drug treatment admissions in the region; the drug also accounts for the sharpest rise in admissions during this 3-year period. (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3. Northwest HIDTA adult and youth (combined) drug treatment admissions for state fiscal year (June 30-July 1), 2003-2005.

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Source: Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.

Canadian and locally produced high-potency marijuana; powder and crack cocaine; Mexican black tar heroin; ODDs, primarily MDMA; and diverted pharmaceuticals are also commonly distributed and abused in the region. The abuse of diverted pharmaceuticals, particularly prescription narcotics such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and methadone, has increased. According to the NDTS 2006, 82.5 percent of state and local law enforcement agencies in the Northwest HIDTA region report the availability of diverted pharmaceuticals as being high or moderate in their jurisdictions.

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