San Antonio – Meth continues to be a problem in our community, according to the San Antonio Council on Alcohol & Drug Awareness, a nonprofit group.
“Opioids has gotten a lot of attention, but we can’t under-report what the concerns we have for our community in regards to methamphetamines,” said Abigail Moore, the nonprofit’s CEO.
Moore said the 2018 annual report from the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office shows there’s been a dramatic increase in meth overdoses.
“Since 2013, we’ve had an increase of, 245 percent increase in methamphetamine overdoses in our community,” Moore said.
Moore said the nonprofit does an assessment each year and gathers data from law enforcement, school surveys and different data centers. The goal is to analyze the drug trends in our community.
Bexar County falls under region 8, where 93 percent of the state’s meth seizures came from, according to the Regional Needs Assessment.
“With the access of methamphetamine being cheaper and greater access to it, we’re starting to see the continuation of methamphetamine use in our community,” Moore said.
Moore said one of the ways the nonprofit helps people is through recovery programs where people can work with recovery coaches.
“These are individuals in long term recovery, and they provide a peer to peer recovery support services to their peers. So, we help them navigate to find treatment, to find resources, housing that’s in recovery that removes them from environments that are at risk or put them at greater risk to use,” Moore said.
Moore said they also focus on prevention in and out of schools.
“Average age of first use of young people experimenting with alcohol, drugs, including methamphetamines and other drugs is 13, here in Bexar County,” Moore said.
To learn more about the resources that San Antonio Council offers, click here.