2016 Drug Trends in Mississippi

The south is not typically a place that we associate with drug use, but it is important to recognize that, with its proximity to Mexico and Central America, it’s fairly simple for many of these drugs to be transported to this area of the United States. In Mississippi, there are a wide variety of drugs that cause issues, including cocaine, marijuana, meth, and even prescription medications. Because of that, it’s important we look at some of the trends in Mississippi that have been coming up because of these issues.

Marijuana

Marijuana is an interesting topic, mainly because there are a number of states that have not only legalized the use of medical marijuana, but they have also started to allow people to use marijuana in a recreational manner. Because of this, many people think that the effects of smoking pot are negligible, when in fact, they are not. There are a lot of issues that can come up when someone is using pot way too often and without having a lot of concern over how and when they are using it.

Even though marijuana is not as addictive as some other sorts of drugs, it can still cause problems. There is some research out there that suggests that it is a gateway drug, and can lead people to look for bigger highs from mushrooms and other hallucinogenic drugs. Obviously, driving under the influence of marijuana is going to put you in a bad spot as well, because you’re going to have a hard time making decisions and your reflexes are pretty much shot at that point.

Why is pot suck an issue in Mississippi, however? Mainly, because it’s pretty much the exact climate that is needed to grow marijuana without a lot of issues. Put that together with the fact that there are a lot of rural areas within the state, and that people are always looking for something new that they can utilize in order to get their next high, and it’s no wonder that pot has become such a huge problem throughout the south. It’s something that definitely needs to be addressed, and legislation is coming forward to at least start the process of doing so.

Methamphetamine

Meth is, perhaps, the largest substance abuse issue that is being dealt with throughout the entire state of Mississippi. They are believed to have more meth labs in the state than any other state in the south, and possibly in the country (the estimates fluctuate all over the place). Meth is a synthetic drug, so it’s definitely something dangerous about utilizing these drugs on a regular basis – sometimes, you can get a bad batch, and in the worst cases, you can overdose on the meth and die from the effects of it. Meth is a really fast problem and it continues to keep growing throughout the state of Mississippi.

The interesting thing is how fast it started to spread around the state. There were a couple labs and a handful of users in scattered parts of the state in the early 2000’s, but as 2015 came around, those numbers have all but exploded. Drug treatment centers in Mississippi have seen more meth patients than they have ever seen before, and this has caused treatment costs to rise to almost unreasonable levels in the past few years. On top of that, meth labs are incredibly dangerous, and if they are located in rural areas, they can have a negative effect on the businesses and environment around the lab. So not only is it a terrible drug that does horrible things to the body, it is also a drug that causes economic damages to the people and businesses who are affected by the labs and/or the people who are using the meth on a regular basis. It’s a domino effect, and legislation is in the works to try and stop the entire line of dominos from tumbling down because of the explosion of meth use in the past decade.

There are so many different things that we have to be concerned about when we look at the drug issues in Mississippi. Because these issues are not unique to the state of Mississippi, the state has to be part of a larger solution that is being brought forward by the entire country. Drug issues can cause a lot of strife, and so dealing with them early on can help to ensure that our country isn’t going to fall under the influence of these issues anymore.