Still Waiting for the Epidemic

The latest data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released today, indicate that consumption of illegal intoxicants hardly changed between 2004 and 2005. Of particular note, methamphetamine use as measured by this survey has been essentially flat (declining slightly, if anything) since 2002, despite all the talk of a "meth epidemic" stalking the land. OxyContin use, first broken out separately in 2004 because the timed-release form of oxycodone was supposedly the new drug of choice (maybe to come down off the meth), likewise has not risen.

So drug warriors are either successfully holding the line or failing to make any progress in their efforts to achieve a "drug-free America." You decide.