About the SA Blog Network  














The White Noise

The White Noise


A hit of addiction and mental illness, chased by chemistry and culture.
The White Noise Home

U.S. cities breaking bad: why do these have the worst drug problems?


ShareShare  ShareEmail  PrintPrint



We all have favorite metropolises across the U.S., romantic or un-romantic notions of what certain cities hold in our mind’s eye: San Francisco for its bridges and climate, Detroit for its cars and manufacturing, New York for its theatre and art. But like unique landscape and culture, certain cities have come to harbor certain drug predilections. Why? Various reasons: history, chemical availability, ethnic population, and some we can’t even put our finger on, can’t quite identify. Here are some of the worst drugs of the trade and the cities that, strangely or not, covet them. Think you know why a city has picked its poison? Have a bit of wisdom? Tell me in the comment section below. I’ll explore these unique drug-city relationships over the next month as part of SciAm’s special city issue.

Baltimore, Maryland: heroin

Missoula, Montana: methamphetamine

Washington, D.C.: cocaine

New Orleans, Louisiana: crack

San Francisco, California: heroin





Rights & Permissions

Comments 2 Comments

Add Comment
  1. 1. buddy 10:38 pm 08/19/2011

    Baltimore: Too close to D.C. and not oblivious to lies, corruption and skulduggery at the highest levels of gov’t

    Missoula: Bored.

    D.C. See Baltimore. + Obvious gap between super rich and politicos with their perks.

    New Orleans: Culture and boredom.

    SFO: Culture and history of liberalism – do your “own thing”

    Link to this
  2. 2. 76trombones 10:05 am 01/5/2013

    Thanks for having Baltimore on this list. Originally from Maryland I lived in Bmore for many years before heading to Atlanta. In college my best friends sister died of a heroin overdose. One distinction, heroin appears to be popular with suburban white kids, while the drug of choice for those that live in the city is crack. Crack decimated Baltimore. It’s so sad, everything that happens there. That city used to be vibrant and beautiful, it throbbed with life. Now spending many years as a shell of its former self, it’s slowly, sloooooowly starting to come back.

    Link to this

Add a Comment
You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmerican.com member to submit a comment.
Click one of the buttons below to register using an existing Social Account.

More from Scientific American

Account Linking

Welcome, . Do you have an existing ScientificAmerican.com account?

Yes, please link my existing account with for quick, secure access.



Forgot Password?

No, I would like to create a new account with my profile information.

Create Account
X