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National Drug Intelligence
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Marijuana is the most widely abused illicit drug in the Lake County HIDTA region. However, the abuse of cocaine and heroin poses a more significant concern to public health and law enforcement officials because cocaine and heroin are more addictive than marijuana, cost more to treat in publicly funded facilities, and are more commonly associated with violent and property crime. According to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration Department of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA), approximately 50 percent of the individuals who received treatment in Lake County through the Hoosier Assurance Plan (HAP)1 in 2007 did so for illicit drug abuse. (See Figure 2.) Of these individuals, approximately 41 percent reported marijuana as their primary substance of abuse; 36 percent reported the same for cocaine, and 22 percent reported heroin. More importantly, of the total number of individuals statewide who reported heroin as their primary substance of abuse (509), over 50 percent (258) received treatment in Lake County. Less than 1 percent of individuals seeking treatment reported methamphetamine as their primary substance of abuse. The total number of individuals receiving services for drug abuse through HAP has remained stable for the last 5 years.
Figure 2. Individuals Receiving Services, Hoosier Assurance Plan, by Drug, Lake County, 2003-2007
Source: Indiana Family and Social Services Administration Department of Mental Health and Addiction Community Services Data System.
Drug use rates among adolescents in the Northwest Region of Indiana (Lake, Jasper, Newton, Porter, Pulaski, and Starke Counties) are significantly higher than statewide rates. According to 2007 survey data from the Indiana Prevention Resource Center, twelfth grade students in the region report higher rates of lifetime, annual, and monthly use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and MDMA than do their peers statewide. In fact, the reported lifetime, annual, and monthly use rates of cocaine, heroin, and MDMA by twelfth grade students were higher in the Northwest Region than in each of the other seven regions in the state.
1. The Hoosier Assurance Plan (HAP) is a mental health services plan funded by the state of Indiana to provide mental health and addiction services to low-income individuals in the state.
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