How Much Does Meth Cost?

The Prices of Meth Nationwide and Getting Help for a Deadly Habit

Meth addiction left me broke, homeless, and doing whatever I needed to do to get my next fix. By the time I got to Icarus Behavioral Health to address my drug abuse, I was in financial ruin due to my addiction. Keeping up with the rising meth costs and the uncertainty of acquiring it when I needed it led me to the brink of madness.

So how much does meth cost anyway? It depends on a lot of factors including where you live and how readily available it is. Depending on where you live, you might be able to find a lot of it cheaply or a scarce amount that is highly taxed.

Either way, what I can tell you for sure is that when you’re a full-blown addict, meth isn’t the cheap drug it is made out to be a lot of the time.

Keep reading for more details on meth cost, as well as my own story on how much meth cost me personally, and how I was finally able to get help at Icarus in New Mexico.

The Cost Of Meth By Area

Because meth can be produced at home with various household chemicals, it can be anywhere. Generally speaking, the midwestern United States is where most labs are found, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Meth is very prevalent in the rust belt, namely in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.

But meth statistics in New Mexico as well as national trends have shown it is getting more popular across the country, in part because drug prices have gone down over the years.

How much meth costs (street prices) have also been sharply affected by the production of large quantities of P2P meth, also referred to as ‘super meth,’ due to its high purity. Cartels have begun producing this form of the drug using different methods than domestic producers, and have driven down the price of meth and increased availability nationwide for those who buy meth (and sell it for that matter).

I remember when I first got started getting acquainted with ‘Tina‘ she was more expensive, and paying forty dollars a gram was not uncommon, even in Oregon where I lived at the time. These days, although it all depends on your location, the average price of a gram of meth is around ten to twenty dollars.

• What does a gram of meth cost? $10 to $20 (again, depending on location… this will be much more in places like Alaska without direct distribution networks)
• What does an ounce of meth cost? (about 28 grams): $100 to $300
• What does a pound of meth cost? (16 ounces): $600 to $1,000 (again, this varies a lot)

Sometimes powder meth (as opposed to crystal meth ‘shards’ can be cheaper, but this varies too).

If this seems cheap, remember how much is consumed plays a big part in how much meth ends up costing. When I was in the middle of my meth addiction, I was smoking around several grams a day, sometimes more.

My addiction typically cost me a couple hundred dollars a week, even when meth prices were steady, as I was never one to be able to put together money for an ounce, much less a pound.

Meth Addiction Costs More Than Money

When you struggle with meth abuse, you live your life in a heightened state of awareness and psychosis. Any form of drug addiction is destructive, but I cannot overstate the power of a meth addiction. I often stayed awake for days on end, believing that people were out to get me. My paranoia and anxiety were off the charts.

If I couldn’t get enough money to fund my addiction, I would resort to theft and other criminal behavior so that I could get it. More often than not, addicts enter the world of illicit drug trafficking in order to stay close to the source and have the opportunity to use on a regular basis.

My attempts at dealing never worked, but suffice to say, my meth use definitely led me into retail theft, check forging, and credit card fraud that I would never have even considered without the need to stay high.

How Drug Cartels Control The Price of Meth

Meth these days is often smuggled into the United States by Mexican drug cartels, who are able to maximize their profit by bringing in large loads of the drug across the border. By bringing in larger amounts, they can keep the cost of meth down.

The drug business is a business just like any other. Drug dealers aren’t trying to overcharge, since they need to be competitive. They want to sell as much of it as possible at an amount that people can afford.

The difference with drug addicts is they will pay whatever they have to. The price of illegal drugs can be all over the place and rarely is consistent. Regardless, when I was actively suffering from my meth addiction, I would do anything to get the drug. If I needed to be a mule or fly to another country to help smuggle it, I would have done it.

Fortunately for me, I never had my ‘stuff’ together enough to be an acceptable mule, or I might still be locked up to this day!

How The Drug Enforcement Administration Fights The Black Market

Law enforcement efforts have ramped up in recent years due to the power of criminal drug operations. Even with all the money the government spends fighting drug trafficking, it continues to be a regular problem.

The demand for illegal drugs is as strong as it’s ever been. The demand for drugs like meth makes it possible for the drug cartels to continue to exist.

Meth is a difficult drug to contain because meth production can exist anywhere. Unlike cocaine and heroin, meth can be easily produced at home. I made sure to make friends with meth cooks so that I could have access to it when I needed it. Despite being close to it, the cost of meth still drained me financially.

Going Broke Due To Meth Abuse

Despite methamphetamine prices being all over the place, I would do whatever I needed to get the money. When my family quit allowing me to borrow money, I would steal it. When I was broke and needed a fix, I would shoplift and break into houses so that I could fund my addiction. Whenever I had any money at all, it was spoken for.

My life as a meth addict left me with nothing to my name. By the time I got to Icarus to begin my recovery, my credit was toast and I owed money to all kinds of people. I got death threats due to the amount of money that I owed to drug dealers. I was scared for my life.

Ultimately, I left the state and started a new life away from the people I surrounded myself with.

Will Substance Abuse Treatment Work For Me?

There are a lot of things to consider if you are thinking of getting clean. There is no manual when it comes to getting clean. What works for one person may not work for somebody else. What made me seek help was realizing that the cost of meth was more than just the financial cost. I had totally ruined my life, and couldn’t get any lower.

The idea of addiction treatment was scary, but the idea of continuing my criminal behavior in order to fund my addiction was scarier. I knew that if the drugs didn’t kill me, the people I owed money to would.

There was no winning scenario. I knew that I had to change, but who would help me? How would I overcome my substance use disorder once and for all?

Getting Help For Meth Abuse is Possible at Icarus

There is a lot of soul-searching involved in the recovery process. How did I get to the point where I went totally broke because of my addiction? Once I began to deal with my demons and figure out what drove me to this point, that’s when I found hope for a new life. Why couldn’t I do it if so many others had done it before? Why not me?

We all need help from time to time. I got that help because of Icarus Behavioral Health in New Mexico. I had a lot of rebuilding to do, but they were the foundation. They helped me every step of the way so that I could my life back.

They gave me the strength to put my methamphetamine use behind me. Are you looking for a way to rebuild your life following an addiction? Give them a call and see what they can do for you.