WORTHINGTON -- Minnesota and Iowa are among 18 states in the country with methamphetamine and amphetamine treatment admission rates higher than the national average.
Minnesota went from eight per 100,000 population in 1993 to 100 per 100,000 in 2003, according to a report by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Iowa went from 13 per 100,000 in 1993 to 213 in 2003.
The national average of admittances per 100,000 is 56. Nationwide, the average age at admission in 2003 was 30 years old, and 55 percent of those admitted were male.
Between 1993 and 2003, the proportion of primary meth admissions in which the principal source of referral was the criminal justice system increased from 36 to 51 percent, according to SAMHSA. Self referrals decreased from 35 to 25 percent, and referrals by substance abuse care providers decreased from 5 to 7 percent.
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"Methamphetamine is undeniably a uniquely destructive drug," SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie said in a press release. "As this new analysis of data shows, many states continue to see a dramatic increase in the numbers of methamphetamine users in treatment programs."
The states with the highest per 100,000 population admittance to treatment in 2003 were Oregon with 251 and Hawaii with 241. Iowa, with 213, was third highest, with California coming in at 212. States with the lowest rates were mostly in the Northeast, with Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island having two admittances per 100,000.
Licensed psychologist Karen Brinkman, owner of Rainbow Behavioral Health Services in Windom -- an outpatient facility that operates meth treatment programs -- said meth users tend to be younger than alcohol addicts. The facility no longer runs a program for adolescents, believing addicts in their teens require inpatient treatment.
Brinkman and program director David Rupp say methamphetamine users need three to six months of abstinence to get meth out of their system before they are ready for treatment.
"They need to do their jail time, then go into treatment," Rupp said.
Rupp said over the last 10 years there has been a definite increase in meth addicts seeking treatment.
"It's the drug of choice," he said, "between the availability, the ways to make it and the access. The state is trying to do its part by working on access to the attainable ingredients."
