(KMOX) - While opioids continue getting many of the headlines, and deservedly so, an old scourge is making a big comeback in southern Illinois.
"We're really starting to see in the last year or so," says Gateway Foundation of Carbondale Executive Director A'nna Jurch, "an increase in methamphetamine use in this area."
Jurich tells KMOX that one reason drug users are returning to meth, is all the attention given to opioids.
"There's been a lot more education over the last year or two with the opioid epidemic awareness, to help people understand the risk of prescription medications." She says, "I think doctors have been more concerned about prescription methods that they use. Maybe not providing as many of those prescriptions."
So with opioids getting harder to get, Jurich says, users are turning back to meth.
"I think people are always opportunistic in what they're using," Jurich says.
Jurich says while people aren't cooking their own meth as much as they used to, they're now able to get it from other sources, especially Mexico.
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