Drug Abuse Statistics in Salina

Salina was founded in the late 1800s as a rural wheat producing hotspot. In fact, in the early 1900s, Salina was the third largest wheat producing town in Kansas and the sixth largest in the country.

Salina sits on about 23 square miles surrounded by farming lands. Though well connected by roadways and railways, Salina is yet to see surplus population boom. The Salina population is estimated at about 27,000. With educational facilities like Kansas State University and Salina Area Technical College; as well as numerous other schools and colleges in the area, Salina has turned into a hub for the student community. With a large student population comes the risk of drug addiction in Salina Kansas.

Being a popular transport route, Salina is used by several Mexican drug cartels to ship drug consignments to the entire state. Working clandestinely in cahoots with these international drug trafficking gangs are the local drug dealers and criminal groups that target the student population of Salina and supply drugs to them. Another worrisome fact is that many of these students themselves act as local or street drug dealers, who target weaker individuals and supply them these prohibited substances.

The law enforcement agencies, the Bureau of Alcohol, and the Drug Enforcement Administration carry out various anti-drug operations to check this gloomy trend. Recently, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Salina Police Department, Saline County Sheriff's Office, and Saline County Attorney's Office carried out Operation Full Throttle in the entire state of Kansas and were successful in uncovering a drug distribution organization that involved a huge number of suspects from the City of Salina. In another anti-drug operation, dubbed Operation White Pistol, the law enforcement officials seized drugs worth thousands of dollars in Salina and arrested more than 12 suspects.

Investigations have revealed that the suspects are part of a drug trafficking group that imports meth and other narcotics to Kansas from Arizona. These drugs are then sold in the metro areas of Kansas, including Salina City. Heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and meth are being rampantly abused in Salina, thanks to their continuous supply in the markets.

To make matters worse, the abuse of prescription drugs is also increasing by the day in Salina. It is more upsetting that prescription drugs are more popular with teens and adolescents. In a few cases, patients prescribed some medicated drugs continue using them even beyond the prescription period advised by their doctor. This use of prescription drugs becomes abuse this way and the patients find it difficult to quit using these medicated drugs thereafter, as their body and mind are captivated by these drugs.

The rise in the numbers of cases of substance abuse in Salina Kansas is worrisome for the responsible citizens of the city. Thus the onus of raising awareness about the harmful effects of drugs lies on them. The level of awareness about ill-effects of drugs must be raised among the youth population of the city, which is more vulnerable to abusing prohibited substances and intoxicants.

Salina drug rehab centers are playing an important role in raising awareness about drugs and providing treatment for addicts so that they get their confidence back and return to a sober living.