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You often hear about the Midwest and South (and much of the West, esp. Oregon) being plagued by what some folks call "the poor man's crack cocaine". It was a big-time crisis back in the '00s decade, then waned for a bit and now seems to be undergoing somewhat of a comeback.
The East Coast seems to be, historically, a weak spot for methamphetamine trade and use. NJ and CT have a lower rate of meth use and meth-lab busts than most of the rest of the country---but PA seems to be on par with WI, which is high for the East Coast but nowhere near as prevalent as in Missouri or Indiana.
However, there are (and have been) hot-spots in the Northeastern region, and interestingly enough, many of those "hot spot" areas have similar demographics to the small towns in the Midwest, Appalachia, West, etc that were overwhelmed by the meth crisis.
Aroostook County (AKA "The County"), a largely white and working-class county in the northeastern tip of Maine, saw a surge of meth use back when it was mostly confined to the middle of the country. The problem has subsided since then, but it was often attributed to Canadian traffickers and truck drivers who traversed US Route 1 from New Brunswick on a regular basis.
Besides Aroostook County, I hear that there are pockets of Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania where methamphetamine use is (or was) on par with the Midwest and West---what is the current meth capital of the Northeast/New England region, and is that area suffering from similar problems as the most meth-stricken areas in the Midwest and South?
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Central, capital region, and western NY are collectively a contender for the northeast's biggest meth problem. As I recall, New York state and Arkansas were among the very worst in 2007, before Ohio and Kentucky went through over a thousand lab busts a year.
The town I live in now has a meth lab bust every few months. Including multiple busts at the local motel even.
We have nothing on the statistics of Ohio, KY, and WV, but upstate NY and PA are definitely the meth hotseat of the northeast.
Central, capital region, and western NY are collectively a contender for the northeast's biggest meth problem. As I recall, New York state and Arkansas were among the very worst in 2007, before Ohio and Kentucky went through over a thousand lab busts a year.
The town I live in now has a meth lab bust every few months. Including multiple busts at the local motel even.
We have nothing on the statistics of Ohio, KY, and WV, but upstate NY and PA are definitely the meth hotseat of the northeast.
I’d say that select rural communities and maybe small “cities”in those regions.
I don’t know about NY being among the “very worst” as Indiana and Missouri have been pretty bad for a while, among some others. This is where NY’s size keeps it from being among worst, even if select parts may be bad in this regard.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
I’d say that select rural communities and maybe small “cities”in those regions.
I don’t know about NY being among the “very worst” as Indiana and Missouri have been pretty bad for a while, among some others. This is where NY’s size keeps it from being among worst, even if select parts may be bad in this regard.
I believe NYC's population once again skews the statistics away from the realities of upstate.
Even without NYC/Downstate, it still wouldn't be that high. Upstate has about 7 million people or so(roughly similar to Indiana and not much more that Missouri), but look at the differences in regards to that part of the topic.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
Even without NYC/Downstate, it still wouldn't be that high. Upstate has about 7 million people or so(roughly similar to Indiana and not much more that Missouri), but look at the differences in regards to that part of the topic.
I ain't arguing it's among the national worst today, man.
My post was entirely in context of the northeast. All except for that comment about 2007, which if I could find the news article from way back then, I would. But, come on, it's been twelve years and three computers. haha
My point about NYC is more that it always throw statistics out of whack. The NYC area is so massive in numbers that even if upstate was a war-torn hellhole, NYC would make the stats seem like a Utopia.
I ain't arguing it's among the national worst today, man.
My post was entirely in context of the northeast. All except for that comment about 2007, which if I could find the news article from way back then, I would. But, come on, it's been twelve years and three computers. haha
My point about NYC is more that it always throw statistics out of whack. The NYC area is so massive in numbers that even if upstate was a war-torn hellhole, NYC would make the stats seem like a Utopia.
I'm not arguing either, but where are you getting that from? I'm asking because it doesn't line up with the information given.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
I'm not arguing either, but where are you getting that from? I'm asking because it doesn't line up with the information given.
Which part? My comment about 2007 or my comment about NYC?
If it's the former, back in 2007 I found an article that stated Arkansas and upstate NY had the most meth lab busts that year. Again, if I could recall clearly enough where that article was, I'd go fetch it. It has literally been since 2007 that I got that information.
Now, I'm no idiot, maybe it was wrong or being specific or something to that nature, but I do remember reading it nonetheless.
Which part? My comment about 2007 or my comment about NYC?
If it's the former, back in 2007 I found an article that stated Arkansas and upstate NY had the most meth lab busts that year. Again, if I could recall clearly enough where that article was, I'd go fetch it. It has literally been since 2007 that I got that information.
Now, I'm no idiot, maybe it was wrong or being specific or something to that nature, but I do remember reading it nonetheless.
That's fine, but I was asking given that there were only 14 in the whole state in 2009.
31 in the entire state per year? From personal experience, that cannot be right.
"Then, a much sharper increase...up to 447 clandestine labs were discovered last year." Now THAT statement seems to be more accurate, maybe the authors research was slightly off. The wording implies the entire decade from 2000-2009, but I don't think that was intentional. I think 31 a year was more the early half of the decade.
In fact now that I think about it, I am beginning to believe that old article I am trying to recall was talking about the sharp rise in incident rather than raw numbers.
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