Methamphetamine in the United States

rdf:langString Methamphetamine in the United States

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rdf:langString Methamphetamine in the United States is regulated under Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act. It is approved for pharmacological use in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, narcolepsy, and treatment-resistant obesity, but it is primarily used as a recreational drug. In 2012, 16,000 prescriptions for methamphetamine were filled, approximately 1.2 million Americans reported using it in the past year, and 440,000 reported using the drug in the past month. Before the late 2000s, much of the methamphetamine consumed in the US was manufactured domestically by amateur chemists in meth labs. They manufactured it from common household drugs and chemicals such as lye, lithium, and ammonia. But after the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 went into effect in 2006, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported a sharp decline in domestic meth production and consumption. As a result, the amount of methamphetamine seized, the amount of domestic drug labs shut down, and the number of associated deaths and emergency room visits also declined. However, since then, drug cartels have become the dominant producer of methamphetamine consumed in the US. They manufacture the product in clandestine facilities in Mexico and smuggle it across the border into the country. Deaths linked to methamphetamine overdoses quadrupled between 2011 and 2017. As of 2020, there are nine cartels involved in this process, with the Sinaloa Cartel being the dominant and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel coming in second. In 2020, Oregon become the first U.S. state to decriminalize small amounts of methamphetamine.