White House officials visited San Diego on Saturday to announce the Biden-Harris administration’s plan to crack down on the methamphetamine crisis due to rising reports of overdose deaths, drug manufacturing, and transportation.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced the proposal to increase resources for drug treatment and continue work with existing law enforcement agencies and governments in the United States and Mexico to reduce the smuggling of meth and establish new task forces if necessary.
As the chronic nature of substance use disorders adds to the detrimental health effects of methamphetamine use, Director of the White House ONDCP, Dr. Rahul Gupta emphasized the importance of drug addiction recovery treatment.
“When we have so many people being killed from methamphetamines, including that which is cut with fentanyl, we have to make sure that we provide help to people when and where they need it,” Gupta said.
White House officials seek to address fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid that contaminated supplies. The proposal details more long-term recovery treatment test strips for individual users to check for the presence of fentanyl, and naloxone, which may reverse the effects of opioid overdose. Schools with high rates of persistent poverty, low education, low employment, and high methamphetamine use would receive prevention intervention.
Under the proposal, law enforcement agencies will receive further training, and the ONDCP plans to continue working with China, India, and other countries to add a list of methamphetamine precursors to the existing list of controlled products and the International Narcotics Control Board’s precursor report.
As of November 29, 2021, provisional estimates for January through December 2020 show 24,309 overdoses involving psychostimulants, accounting for approximately 26 percent of the estimated 93,145 overdose deaths in the United States in 2020. 40 Further, although overall drug overdose age-adjusted death rates are highest in urban counties, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving psychostimulants in 2019 was 1.4 times higher in rural counties than in urban counties
In 2020, over 2.5 million people in the United States aged 12 years or older reported methamphetamine use in the past year. According to the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), most people who initiate illicit methamphetamine use are over 18, and the majority start at age 26 or older.
According to the latest data released by the San Diego Meth Strike Force last year, there was a 92 percent increase in meth-related deaths between 2016 and 2020 in San Diego County. In 2020 there were 7222 meth-related deaths and nearly half of those among people ages 45 to 64.
“They’re only second to the overdose deaths from fentanyl,” said District Attorney Summer Stephan. “But the new trend that we’re seeing is that methamphetamine and fentanyl are being combined, and that is causing a new epidemic. We’re seeing both of our most dangerous substances combined.”
The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported it seized 114,000 pounds of meth along the California-Mexico border during fiscal 2021.
In the current fiscal year, the CPB reported it seized 57,900 pounds of meth from October to March, including 1,336 pounds of methamphetamine seized by officers in February at an Otay Mesa commercial facility that was disguised as onions— estimated at a value of $2.9 million.
