Magic mushrooms

Live On: 4/24/15 At 1:43 PM HaveNo comments.

Magic mushrooms in Seattle and heroin in Philadelphia: Google Trends plots drug addictions across the US

• The graphic was created by detox and rehab site Withdrawal.net
  
• It used Google Trends to track the popularity of drug searches since 2004
  
• This included crystal meth, cocaine, Xanax, Adderall and heroin
  
• The team then plotted the most searched for drugs across the US
  
• Maps reveal how searches for meth peaked in 2007 and again in 2013
  
• Cocaine has consistently been the most searched for drug since 2001=4
  
• Adderall is most commonly searched for in New Orleans, cocaine is a prolific drug in New York, and OxyContin is popular in Seattle
  

Official crime rates and hospital figures give an insight into drug abuse across the US, but the data Google reaps can also reveal just how prevalent the spread of an illicit substance truly is.

A team of researchers used Google Trends, which tracks trending topics over time, to see how the popularity of different drugs has changed in the country over the past decade.

It found that searches for crystal meth are steadily rising, heroin is considered an ‘epidemic’ in Pennsylvania, and prescription drugs such as Xanax and Adderall dominate the south.

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