Meth is killing people across every income level in Hawaii, and funding rules are steering treatment money away from the problem.

• A review of 100 meth overdose autopsies found deaths spread across the whole island and every income bracket.
• Only a quarter of those who died were homeless — the rest had homes, and some held six-figure jobs.
• Many had warning signs first: restraining orders, arrests, doctors telling them to quit. They kept using anyway.
• Meth is hard to quit because it floods the brain with dopamine, and stopping leaves people unable to feel pleasure for a long time. There is no medication to ease withdrawal the way there is for opioids.
• Small cash or gift-card rewards for clean drug tests work better than almost anything else, but most treatment money is locked to opioids — including 85% of Hawaii's opioid settlement funds, which by law cannot be spent on meth.

Outlook: Without a funding source that can pay for meth treatment, deaths are likely to keep climbing.