Wastewater testing in Caddo Parish, Louisiana has turned up methamphetamine concentrations that researchers say are among the highest ever recorded anywhere in the world.
The findings, presented to the Caddo Parish Commission this month by researchers at LSU Health Shreveport, put local meth levels more than double those found in traditional hotspots like Oklahoma and West Virginia.
For Shreveport and the surrounding parish, the numbers confirm what many local health workers and families dealing with meth addiction have suspected for years: methamphetamine, not opioids alone, is driving much of the area’s substance use crisis right now.
What the Wastewater Data Show
Dr. Kevin Murnane, an associate professor of pharmacology, toxicology, and neuroscience at LSU Health Shreveport, told commissioners that researchers measured methamphetamine at 8.26 parts per billion in local wastewater, a concentration he compared to a single drop of impurity in 500 barrels of water.
He said the team tested against data from other well-known hotspots, including Tennessee and West Virginia, as well as international locations, and found Caddo Parish levels higher than any of them.
Wastewater-based testing does not identify individual users. Instead, it gives researchers and public health officials a population-level snapshot of drug use trends across an entire city or parish, based on trace chemical signatures in sewage.
LSU Health Shreveport has been running this kind of monitoring for roughly a year as part of a broader research effort funded through opioid settlement money. Murnane told commissioners there is no single explanation for why meth use runs so high locally.
“My best educated guess is there is a confluence of a lot of vulnerability factors,” he said, pointing to a lack of economic opportunity as one likely contributor alongside the region’s position along interstate corridors used for drug trafficking.
Meth Addiction and Its Warning Signs
Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant that speeds up activity in the central nervous system, producing intense euphoria followed by a hard psychological crash.
Regular use can lead to significant weight loss, dental damage often called “meth mouth,” skin sores from compulsive picking, and severe sleep disruption.
Behavioral signs of meth addiction can include hyperactivity followed by extended sleep periods, paranoia, and increasingly erratic decision-making as tolerance builds.
Because meth addiction develops differently than opioid dependence, and current medical detox and medication options for opioid use disorder do not directly apply to stimulant addiction, treatment for meth use typically centers on behavioral therapies, contingency management, and structured outpatient or inpatient care rather than medication-assisted withdrawal.
What Caddo Parish Is Doing With the Data
LSU Health Shreveport has used more than $1 million in opioid settlement funds received from Caddo Parish since 2024 to seed research into new addiction and PTSD treatments, including studies exploring psychedelic-assisted therapy.
The funding currently supports seven research projects and 29 scientist trainees, and Murnane said the university hopes to eventually establish a dedicated mental health command center for the parish that would extend beyond wastewater monitoring alone.
University officials told commissioners the settlement money was always understood as seed funding rather than a permanent budget line, and said LSU Health has already secured additional federal grants and two new research awards building on data generated through the wastewater program.
Finding Addiction Treatment in Louisiana
For Shreveport-area residents concerned about their own meth use or a family member’s, the first step is usually an honest assessment of what level of care fits: outpatient counseling, an intensive outpatient program, or a residential setting for someone whose use has become unmanageable at home.
Addictions.com lists addiction treatment centers across Louisiana and the rest of the country. You can call
800-681-1058
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