New Study States Wyoming Drug Abuse Isn't as Bad as We Think

One of the less glamorous things often associated with Wyoming is excessive illegal drug abuse. Fortunately, a new study shows that the Cowboy State is far from the worse in the country.

The study was conducted by personal finance website, WalletHub, and lists "Drug Use by State: 2022’s Problem Areas". The good news is, Wyoming isn't on the top 20. We did however score 21st overall, which still puts us on the wrong side of the report.

Source: WalletHub

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There were were twenty-one key metrics that WalletHub used to rate all fifty states and the District of Columbia, ranging from arrest and overdose rates to opioid prescriptions and employee drug testing laws.

Here's how the Cowboy State ranked:

Drug Use & Addiction - 40th
Law Enforcement - 2nd
Drug Health Issues & Rehab - 30th
Lowest Percentage of Teen Drug Users - 51st
Most Drug Arrests per Capita - 2nd
Most of Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities per 100,000 Drug Users - 49th

Considering our states relatively low population (and the fact most of the ranking was based off per capita scores), I fully expected us to do worse. Apparently having the lowest score overall for teen drug usage and our treatment facilities greatly attributed to us not ranking any higher. Unfortunately, our drug arrest rate is second only to South Dakota.

It also can't be ignored our proximity to Colorado and the fact that recreational marijuana usage is legal there, but not here.

Overall, with all of the meth (methamphetamine) and other known drug issues that Wyoming faces daily, it was nice to see that we aren't the bottom of the barrel statewide. That being said, there is still plenty of work to be done on the state level to combat our drug abuse issues.