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That was down from 5 percent in 2004, and similar declines were found among ninth graders and statewide, the department said in a report based on two surveys of secondary and college students. It also includes data from government databases, hospital emergency rooms and treatment centers.
Carol Falkowski, director of the department’s Chemical Health Division, said the data doesn’t necessarily mean meth use is down overall, since the statistics are just indicators of what’s happening in specific populations. But she said it is possible that meth abuse is finally stalling, or even dropping.
“I think what’s encouraging is that we started to see these declines since 2006, and they’re continuing to go down,” she said.
Falkowski credited pressure from law enforcement for a good share of the apparent methamphetamine decline. Meth seizures continue to outnumber all other illegal drug seizures in the state at 35 percent.
But the report also revealed some troubling trends. Falkowski said Ecstasy use grew from 4 percent in 2004 to 6 percent last year.
“Now it appears that there’s a resurgence in the Ecstasy supply, and that the source of that Ecstasy is — somewhat surprisingly — Canada,” Falkowski said. “Even cities as far south as Miami are seeing renewed supplies of Ecstasy.”
Marijuana use rose 4 percentage points from three years ago to 33 percent of seniors, and LSD use rose from 5 percent in 2004 to 6 percent last year, the student survey found.
Falkowski said she was surprised to see that LSD is becoming more popular. Many people who grew up in the 1960s probably know someone who was significantly harmed by the hallucinogen, she said, but that appears forgotten now.
“Forty years later, we have this generational forgetting and kids are using it again, because it is a drug that can have long-term psychological consequences,” she said. “But maybe each generation needs to learn that on their own.”
Out of all drugs, the report said, alcohol remains the most widely abused. A steady 61 percent of high school seniors reported that they had consumed alcohol within the past year, and treatment for alcohol accounted for half of all treatment admissions statewide in 2007.
But alcohol abuse doesn’t seem to worry society quite as much as other drugs, Falkowski said.
“Sometimes parents may think, ’Well, at least my child isn’t using methamphetamine, at least it’s just alcohol.’ Well, there are kids treated every weekend across this state for alcohol poisoning,” she said. “And none of them ever dreamed when they woke up in the morning that they would wind up nearly dying that evening from alcohol.”
The student survey did reveal some hopeful news regarding alcohol, Falkowski said. Over the past three years, alcohol use among Twin Cities ninth graders has dropped 5 percent age points to 35 percent and the rate has dropped 2 points to 9 percent among sixth graders.
On the Net:
The report is at: http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/disabilities/documents/pub/dh s16—140333.pdf
