Habilitat Offers a Glimpse at Hawaii’s Drug Abuse Trends in an Exclusive Interview
When we think of living in paradise, Hawaii is one of the few places that easily come to mind. The Islands conjure up a handful of panoramic sceneries, nice tropical climate, and gorgeous beaches that you would at once think the residents are untouched by the dangers of illegal substances.
In an interview with Becky Harrison, Marketing Director of Habilitat, a well-recognized drug and alcohol treatment facility in Hawaii, TestCountry found out that Hawaii was once plague with methamphetamine epidemic.
Though there had already been stories about people in Hawaii using meth as early as the 1970s, accounts of the spread and effects of meth appeared in media throughout the 1990s. By the turn of the 21st century, Hawaii’s problem in methamphetamine refused to cease. Only, it gained wider acknowledgement that every level of government in the state took part in stopping the drug from further escalating.
According to an information from DEA, a large part of crystal methamphetamine abuse in Hawaii is attributed to drug trafficking organizations with strong domestic and international organized crime enterprises. Between 2005 and 2010, nearly 320 kg of meth has been confiscated in Hawaii. Obtaining details about the actual number of meth users in the Islands was quite hard, according to officials; but a 2009 CBS News reported an estimate of about 8,000 to 120,000 of Hawaii’s 1.2 million population were using the drug.
In the mainland, prescription medication is one of the most prevalent problems officials are facing; however, Ms. Harrison pointed out that Hawaii have likewise had its share of changes in drug abuse trends.
To know more about Habilitat’s substance abuse treatment programs, read TestCountry’s full exclusive interview with Becky Harrison here.
Tags: addiction programs, addiction recovery center, Habilitat, Habilitat Hawaii
