The London area is running Ontario’s highest rate of criminal charges involving the cheap street drug crystal methamphetamine, a just-released report shows.

Bad as that is, police have already seized four times the amount of crystal meth this year as they did in all of 2013 — the year the data was collected by Statistics Canada.

But though the numbers detail crime statistics, they point to an underlying addiction problem in this region that can be linked to years of job losses, stresses and mental health issues triggered by the last recession, say some observers.

“London has a serious drug problem, and a lot of the meth phenomenon has to do with the economy,” said Donald MacPherson of the B.C.-based Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.

He said the London and Windsor areas are known across the country for having high rates of addiction, and noted meth has gained ground in places where homelessness is on the rise.

“Meth has replaced oxycontins as the drug of choice for users, especially those experiencing homelessness because it is a stimulant, which some consider necessary,” MacPherson said. “Street users use it because they are sleeping in fairly dodgy places, and meth keeps them alert and up.”

For years after the 2008 recession, the London area struggled to bounce back. Only recently has the city recovered and is now running a jobless rate just below the provincial and federal averages. But meanwhile the slow economy could very well be linked to the surge in addiction, MacPherson said.

“Look at the meth epidemic that swept over the midwest in the (U.S.) in the ’90s. It was very much to do with the change in economic circumstances,” he said. “It wasn’t that meth showed up and destroyed communities, it was that the economy fell out of communities.”

City outreach workers and police alike have noticed a spike in crystal meth use. Across London there have been agency meetings to discuss ways to deal with it and to help those addicted to the drug.

“We also have a high rate of homelessness in London, people who are transient and struggling with mental health,” said Sonja Burke, director of harm reduction for the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection.

London needs a stronger web of support, including enough affordable and supportive housing, to address the different layers of mental health issues, homelessness and addiction, she said.

Crystal meth gained a London foothold after Oxycontin opiod pills, another drug popular on the streets, were taken off the market in 2012, outreach workers say. Back then, studies showed London had Ontario’s highest per-capita opioid use and overdoses were off the charts.

With Oxy no longer easily available, addicts turned to cheaper, easy-to-get crystal meth that sells for $10 a hit.

And of course, the producers are willing to provide, Burke said.

“Having people using it more . . . has created a market for the dealers or makers,” she said. “That’s when policing comes in.”

Noting that police only seized a quarter of crystal methamphetamine in 2013 that they have already seized in the first six months of 2015, London police Const. Ken Steeves agreed policing and enforcement decisions have a major impact on crime stats.

“As drugs of choice change, so does our enforcement and we are certainly targeting crystal meth more than we have,” said Steeves.

Earlier this year, city police singled out the drug that runs through the popular TV series Breaking Bad in a major undercover investigation for the first time. Announcing arrests and charges from that project in May, the head of London’s guns and drugs squad said crystal meth has become rampant in London and is wreaking havoc with addicts.

So people self medicate and crystal meth is “quick and easy, people are making it in their homes,” Burke said.

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DRUG NUMBERS

Police-reported drug “violations,” for 2013 per 100,000 people:

London: cannabis, 150; cocaine, 34; methamphetamines, 22; other, 63

Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo: cannibis, 225; cocaine, 33; methamphetamines, 8; other, 50

Hamilton: cannabis, 225; cocaine, 33; methamphetamines, 1; other, 34

Toronto: cannabis, 129; cocaine, 36; methamphetamines, 2; other, 24

Windsor: cannabis, 116; cocaine, 27; methamphetamines, 3; other, 39

St.Catharines-Niagara: cannabis, 119; cocaine, 33; methamphetamines, 4; other, 19

Kingston: cannabis, 82; cocaine, 33; methamphetamine, 21; other, 34

Source: Statistics Canada

London police crystal methamphetamine seizures:

2013: 600 grams

2014: 2.3 kilograms

2015 to date: 2.5 kilograms