Drug & Alcohol Rehab For Warsaw, Indiana

Warsaw is a charming, beautiful little city in northern Indiana, about 2.5 hours north of the state capital and about an hour northwest of Fort Wayne. Despite its relatively small population, Warsaw serves as the county seat of Kosciusko County and is the only designated city in the area. The population has seen slow but steady growth over the last few decades, and Warsaw, Indiana is currently home to 15,804 residents, according to the latest census. Perhaps best known as the unofficial “Orthopedic Capital of the World,” Warsaw hosted the first orthopedic device manufacturer and has since attracted several competing orthopedic companies and suppliers that provided hundreds of jobs to locals for decades.

While Warsaw has a strong history in manufacturing, the availability of jobs has dwindled in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic also greatly impacted small businesses in the downtown area. The once thriving main street is now filled with shuttered shops. As a result, Warsaw has a poverty rate of 14.5%, which is higher than the state average of 12.6%. And though the cost of living in Warsaw is not particularly high, the salary of an average household has stagnated in recent years. According to the latest data, the median household income in Warsaw is $57,931, compared to $66,785 statewide. [1]

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, county and state authorities have recorded a rise in both economic struggles and substance abuse in Warsaw, Indiana. While these two issues don’t always go hand in hand, the increased stress caused by financial instability can, in some cases, increase the risk of drug and alcohol abuse. That said, overdoses, deaths, and even substance-abuse-related arrests have not always shown a clear upward trend in Warsaw. Based on the most recent data, alcohol, marijuana, and meth are among the most commonly abused drugs in Warsaw, though heroin, prescription opioids, and cocaine are not far behind.

Continue reading to learn about substance abuse and addiction in Warsaw, Indiana. And remember, if you or a loved one are fighting addiction in Warsaw or the surrounding area, you can always reach out to Addiction Rehab Centers for help.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Warsaw

As a sparsely populated city, Warsaw doesn’t have the resources to manage its own substance abuse data. Moreover, it’s common practice in Indiana for counties to aggregate the data from towns and cities within its borders and present the data to the state for evaluation. This means that the cases occurring in Warsaw are lumped together with cases occurring in nearby towns and municipalities, such as Winona Lake and Syracuse. However, Warsaw accounts for nearly 20% of the county population. Additionally, it’s estimated that nearly half of all substance abuse recorded in Kosciusko County overdoses and arrests occur in the city of Warsaw. Therefore, examining county-wide data can still provide an accurate picture of the ongoing substance abuse crisis at the city level.

Overdose deaths are a sobering statistic in any city, but they are especially difficult to predict in Kosciusko County. Though the county did see a spike in overdose deaths during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this trend aligned with most other cities and counties in the state, there has not been a steady pattern in overdose deaths over the past few years. [2] The table below shows how deaths involving all drugs (including alcohol) have changed in the area over the past few years:

*Data for 2023 is provisional and only accounts for the first half of the year.

As you can see from the table, Kosciusko County saw a surprising increase in overdose deaths in 2017. However, 2021 and 2022 were the worst years for this statistic. While the data for 2023 is still provisional and could be updated in the future, it may imply that overdose deaths are generally on the rise in the region. Between 2016 and 2023, annual overdose deaths increased by 45.4%. While the number of deaths has fallen since the COVID-19 pandemic, the figures for overdose deaths do seem to be worsening over time in Kosciusko County.

When evaluating all of the available data, deaths typically account for a very small number of total overdoses. This holds true in the vast majority of counties in Indiana, including Kosciusko County. Non-fatal overdoses related to drug or alcohol abuse are far more common. Consequently, non-fatal overdoses may offer a more accurate depiction of how people are struggling with addiction in a given municipality. The table below shows the relevant overdose data in Kosciusko County between 2016 and 2023: [3]

*Data for 2023 is provisional and only accounts for the first half of the year.

Much like overdose deaths in Kosciusko County, non-fatal overdoses spiked in 2017, 2021, and 2022. However, the increase in overdose deaths was not reflected in the non-fatal overdose data. For example, between 2016 and 2023 (even though 2023 data is still provisional), Kosciusko County recorded a decrease in annual non-fatal overdoses of 53.1%. Though this might seem like a sign that addiction and substance abuse are becoming less common, it’s important to consider the implications of fatal vs. non-fatal overdoses.

In 2016, fatal overdoses only accounted for 5.4% of total overdoses in Kosciusko County. By 2023, fatal overdoses accounted for 17.9% of total overdoses in the county. This shift could have numerous causes, but it’s often an indication that cities and counties are less able to effectively prevent deaths when substance abuse is involved. It can also be a sign that people are abusing drugs and alcohol more heavily, or that more powerful drugs (such as fentanyl) are readily available.

Types of Substance Abuse in Warsaw

In 2022, alcohol, marijuana, and meth were the most abused drugs in Kosciusko County. This is based on arrest and re-arrest data provided by the county. While this type of data does not perfectly reflect trends in substance abuse because it does not account for people who abuse drugs and alcohol and evade arrest, it does provide an overview of how certain types of drug and alcohol abuse change over time. Here is the latest data from Indiana’s Next Level Recovery program showing the arrests involving different kinds of addictive substances between 2016 and 2024 in Kosciusko County:

*Statistics for 2023 and 2024 are still preliminary and do not account for the entire calendar year(s).

Arrests involving drugs or alcohol more than doubled between 2017 and 2018. In the years that followed, total arrests remained consistently high. While there may be a drop off in arrests in 2024, it’s still too early to know what the final numbers will look like. In addition to the increase in total arrests, it’s also important to evaluate how trends in substance abuse have changed over time in Kosciusko County.

Between 2016 and 2023, alcohol, marijuana, and meth arrests increased substantially. Arrests involving cocaine or prescription opioids declined over the same period. Perhaps most alarming is the fact that arrests involving drug paraphernalia more than doubled between 2016 and 2023. These arrests can be linked to a wide range of addictive substances, but they are most often associated with heroin. If this trend continues, heroin and other illicit opioids may become some of the most abused substances in Warsaw and the rest of Kosciusko County.