California Drug Rehab Centers Still Have Their Hands Full with Meth Addicts

In an attempt to quell drug addiction and abuse problems across the U.S., the federal government enacted the Combat Meth Act of 2005.  This Act cuts directly across the availability of the raw ingredients needed to make methamphetamine, an illegal schedule II stimulant with a high potential for addiction and abuse.  You will now find cold and cough medicines and other previously over-the-counter drugs containing pseudoephedrine locked in cabinets or kept behind the pharmacy counter. ID and signature are required for each purchase. Regardless of the law, meth use doesn’t seem to be slowing down, and California drug rehab programs are needed more than ever to handle meth addiction.

How are drug addicts and dealers responding to the new law? You would think you’d see a rise in drug rehab admissions, but the statistic that’s gone up is pharmacy thefts. California has recently seen a number of pharmacy robberies where, in addition to prescription drugs being stolen, the assailants also cleaned out the pseudoephedrine-containing cough and cold medicine.  Pharmacies in Pico Rivera, Fullerton, La Mirada, Whittier and Anaheim all experienced break-ins just last month.

In addition, a further twist has now found its way into the manufacturing of methamphetamine – candy-flavored meth. Though police labs don’t generally test for flavor, colored meth has been found in Nevada, California, Texas and other states.

With meth already identified by the DEA as California’s primary drug threat, this new attempt at popularizing it by appealing to a younger crowd and making it more palatable is not being taken lightly: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) introduced legislation to increase penalties for drug dealers who are seeking to entice children with candy-flavored drugs.

Any way you slice it, the epidemic of drug addiction continues to plague the state of California and the nation as a whole.  Only through education and a successful drug rehab program do we have any hope of vanquishing this problem outright.