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DRUGS IN MICHIGAN: A multi-faceted problem

A complex picture emerges

Getting a handle on drug problems in Michigan isn't easy. Do you mean the problems that surround the impoverished crack addict in Detroit who turns to prostitution and shoplifting to support her habit? Or do you think of the teenagers in Grand Rapids giggling as they experiment with marijuana?

What about the clandestine methamphetamine lab in the Upper Peninsula, boobytrapped to explode if law enforcement agents enter? Perhaps you mean the entrepreneurial doctor who is quick to dispense narcotics to his customers or the addicted nurse who steals drugs from the patients on her shift. Or do you conjure up a picture of those all too frequent cases where the legal drug of alcohol fuels family disputes that erupt in violence?

Like the rest of the United States, Michigan has a broad spectrum of drug problems, ranging from manufacture, diversion, and sale of illicit substances to the abuse of legal and illegal drugs and that problems that addiction spawns. Research continues to confirm that alcohol and illicit drugs played at least some role in the crimes committed by four out of five people doing time behind bars.

Tracking data such as hospital admissions for drugs and drug deaths over time can help to paint a picture of Michigan's drug problems. For many years, Richard Calkins, chief of Evaluation and Data Services for Michigan's Center for Substance Abuse Services, now in the Michigan Department of Community Health, has written the Drug Abuse Trend Update for Detroit/Wayne County.

The report is typically issued twice a year, and it focuses on greater Detroit area, which comprises 2.1 million people or 23 percent of Michigan's population. It also offers numerous statewide markers of substance abuse.

According to the figures contained in the June 1997 report, cocaine use has at least stabilized, if not declined, while the increase in deaths from heroin suggests that use of this drug may be greater than previously assumed. If we use people seeking treatment as a bellwether, those in the Detroit/Wayne County area where cocaine was the primary drug problem cited totaled 6,261 in Fiscal Year 1994, but only 5,313 in 1996. (Declines were also noted where cocaine was the secondary and tertiary drug cited). Figures for outstate Michigan failed to show similar declines (cocaine as primary drug constituted 15,306 admissions in FY 1994 and 15,601 in 1996).

A complex picture emerges Cocaine Heroin Other opiates Marijuana Stimulants Depressants, hallucinogens, and other drugs Michigan's War on Drugs

In Detroit/Wayne County, heroin admissions as the primary drug totaled 3,580 in 1994 and 3,577 in 1996. Statewide, primary heroin admissions were 5,334 for 1994 and 6,839 in 1996.

The overall summary from the report:

"During the first half of fiscal year (FY) 1997, cocaine treatment admissions decreased 3 percent statewide and 8 percent in Detroit/Wayne County; heroin admissions decreased 14 percent statewide and 22 percent in Detroit/Way County; and marijuana treatment admissions decreased 6 percent statewide and 13 percent in Detroit/Wayne County. In the larger picture, total admissions declined by 12 percent statewide and 15 percent in Detroit/Wayne County compared to FY 1996. Cocaine deaths remained stable in 1996, while heroin deaths increased by 19 percent. Among Detroit arrestees, cocaine use is decreasing, while heroin use is stable and marijuana use is increasing. Average heroin purity has remained high. Codeine remains the most widely abused other opiate. LSD indicators remain low. Methampetamine activity continues to increase slowly. Methcathinone ("cat") availability remains low and users are infrequent. Through April 1, 1997, 8,590 AIDS cases have been identified in Michigan; injecting drug users constitute 30 percept of these cases.