A large-scale analysis of Ontario urine drug screens has quietly dismantled one of public health's most persistent assumptions: that methamphetamine use belongs primarily to young men on the margins. Researchers at Lawson Research Institute found women and adults over fifty present in numbers eight times greater than self-reported surveys had ever suggested, revealing how stigma and invisibility can distort a society's understanding of its own suffering. The findings arrive as stimulant-related deaths climb even as opioid deaths recede, suggesting the crisis has not diminished — it has simply
Ontario study reveals women, older adults comprise larger share of meth users than assumed
Stimulant users face elevated rates of HIV, viral hepatitis, and infectious endocarditis, with significantly higher emergency room and hospitalization rates.