Current drug use trends in our area: "E",
Cocaine and now LSD
My colleagues and I have been seeing the trends of drug use continue to change in many ways. During the past two years, some of these monthly newsletters have indicated two things regarding trends in use: the alarming rate of teens using cocaine, and the resurgence of ecstasy use.
We saw use of cocaine first occur in the communities where teens could afford such an expensive drug. Overtime, it has crossed neighborhood boundaries and we are seeing more and more teens that have used cocaine. In my practice, over 90% of my clients have used cocaine in the past year. Despite these alarming rates most adults have never heard about this trend. The cost for this drug is about $40 for one gram. The problem with this drug is that users develop a tolerance to the drug very rapidly compared to other drugs. With the increase in tolerance comes the increase in amounts needed to experience intoxication, and that becomes costly.
Regarding ecstasy, it is still being heavily abused. The cost is still cheap at $6.00 a pill now vs. $25.00 a pill 4 years ago. As mentioned in previous newsletters the, name of this drug on the street has changed to "Thizz" or "Thizzle." Another thing which is different with this resurgence of ecstasy is that it appears that more and more kids are being hospitalized because of it. In the past year, clients of mine have been hospitalized because of the drug. So with the prices dropping and kids being hospitalized from the drug, it makes me wonder what chemicals are really going into each pill.
In addition to the drugs already mentioned,
there is another drug which might start to become more prevalent
as well, LSD. This drug has been nearly impossible for many
local drug-users to access during the past 3 -4 years. In the
last 8 months, more and more teens have talked about it being
used in the community. So, I was waiting to mention this drug
as an issue until I started to get clients who were actually
using it
In the past two months, I have had 3 clients use it for the
first time. While 3 is a small number, it is up from zero in
the past few years. It has appeared quickly and hopefully it
disappears just as fast. It is something for us to keep our
eye on.
Finally, overall young people are still primarily abusing alcohol
and marijuana, and then prescription and OTC medications and
in that order. Next to that would be the "E", cocaine,
meth, etc. Hopefully this information will help us to better
understand and help them regarding current substance use issues.