2016 Drug Trends in Nebraska

Nebraska, the Corn Huskers State. This state is a land full of rolling hills and other unique landscapes, but there are also a number of drug issues that have to be dealt with. In 2015, the two biggest issues are related to meth and MDMA (ecstasy) and other club drugs that are out there. Because of that, it’s important that we take a look at these issues and the way in which they can negatively affect those populations within the state.

Methamphetamine

The distribution, production, and use of meth is one of the biggest issues that Nebraska has to deal with. Since all of these seem to be a huge problem, it’s important that we take a closer look at each of them in detail so that we get a better idea of what the issues are.

First, the production of meth is incredibly easy to do in Nebraska. This is for a number of reasons. Nebraska is a state that has an almost absurdly high proportion of farmland, especially when compared with other states. Because of that, it’s easier for meth labs to remain hidden within the landscape. These labs also have a lot of access to the fertilizers and other farm chemicals that are so often used when it comes to actually putting the meth together. The combination of these two factors is incredibly disconcerting, and authorities have been working to make it so that neither of these things are as easy to do as they had been in the past.

Distribution runs rampant throughout the entire state. It’s been estimated that you can find meth in pretty much any community that you go to, and it has also made it a lot easier for people in the surrounding states to get it as well. That being said, there have only been a few major busts when it comes to meth in the past few years – usually, people are caught with smaller amounts of the drug, instead of whole labs being raided. It’s usually already distributed if and when the authorities find the labs.

So, of course, that brings us to the use of meth throughout the state. Because it is so readily available, and because so many people are involved in the distribution of it, there are also a lot of people that are abusing it. The number of people who go to substance abuse treatment and rehab centers is increasing every single year, and many of those cases are related to meth use, meth abuse, and overdose cases that occur.

MDMA and other Club Drugs

You probably don’t think of clubs when you think of Nebraska, but they are actually incredibly popular, especially among younger populations. Because of that, there is a very high use of these sorts of drugs. Some of the use can be attributed to the fact that there are a lot of “rave parties” that are held in homes and barns all throughout the state. It’s suggested that many of the drugs that come to the state are either from the state of Arizona or the state of Florida. There are also a number of different colleges in the state that have a very high rate of club drug use.

Another concern here is that some of these drugs can be referred to as predatory drugs. These are the “date rape” drugs that are usually used in order to make people black out so that they can be raped and/or sexually assaulted. This, of course, has its own set of dangers, and it’s important that we get this situation better under control throughout the entire state. Sexual assault has, thankfully, gone down in the past few years, but that doesn’t mean that the problem has been completely eliminated.

Nebraska has a lot of drug concerns, and some of the problems just seem to be getting worse instead of better. With tougher legislation that is working to prevent the further spread of meth, and legislation that is attempting to fix the problems that are so often connected with MDMA use on college campuses and among young adults in the club scene, it definitely is going to get better over time. It just may take a little longer due to some of the other concerns that are going on throughout the entire state. Nebraska will, however, see some positive changes in the future, and that will be incredibly helpful when it comes to controlling drug issues in the states surround Nebraska as well.