Located about an hour north of Indianapolis, Kokomo combines small-town Midwest charm with the conveniences of a modern city. Kokomo, Indiana currently boasts a population of 59,671, and the city has grown by roughly 32% since 1990.[1] The city functions as the seat of Howard County and makes up about two-thirds of the county population.
While the city experienced a severe economic downturn in 2007 and 2008, manufacturing jobs — particularly those in the automobile industry — saw a major resurgence in the years that followed. Since then, Kokomo has been one of the few mid-sized cities in Indiana to maintain a strong local economy based on auto manufacturing. Nonetheless, many Kokomo residents still struggle with low wages and the rising cost of living.
Despite the relative strength of Kokomo’s industrial sector and its beautiful scenery, the city has an unsavory relationship with drugs and alcohol. The 2008 financial crash and the COVID-19 pandemic hit the city of Kokomo especially hard, resulting in higher-than-usual unemployment rates over the past few years. The increased access to opioids (prescription and non-prescription) led many people to cope with the stress by turning to substance abuse. Today, Kokomo is experiencing an addiction crisis that far outpaces most other cities in Indiana.
Continue reading to learn about substance abuse and addiction in Kokomo, Indiana. If you or a loved one are fighting addiction in Kokomo, you can always reach out to Addiction Rehab Centers for help.
Drugs and Alcohol Addiction in Kokomo
According to the Indiana Department of Health, Kokomo sees an alarmingly high number of emergency department visits involving opioids. Most of these instances are related to opioid overdoses. In Howard County, emergency departments respond to an average of 190.1 opioid incidents per 100,000 residents, compared to 104.5 opioid incidents per 100,000 residents in the state of Indiana.[2] This means that a resident of Kokomo is almost twice as likely to abuse opioids than residents in other towns and cities in Indiana, and twice as likely to experience an overdose as well.
It’s important to consider that this accounts for all types of opioids, including both prescription and non-prescription drugs. However, it’s important to look at different types of opioids and their abuse in Kokomo, as well as the abuse of alcohol and non-opioid substances. The Indiana Department of Health estimates that Howard County records 141.7 heroin incidents per 100,000 residents, which is double the amount recorded in the rest of Indiana (70.7 per 100,000).
While drug abuse is not always linked to economic status, it does play a factor in Kokomo and the rest of Howard County. As of the latest data, Kokomo has a poverty rate of 14.6%, which is higher than the state average of 12.6%.[3] Looking beyond opioids, it’s possible to examine the state of the substance abuse crisis in Kokomo by reviewing data related to drug and alcohol arrests. Substance abuse arrests in Indiana declined from a peak of 101,144 arrests in 2018 to 69,146 arrests in 2022. Preliminary data indicates that Indiana has only recorded 62,644 drug arrests in 2023.
When looking at Howard County, the data is not quite as hopeful. The chart below documents how substance abuse arrest data has evolved in Howard County since 2015:[4]
Year | Total Arrests | Alcohol | Cocaine | Marijuana | Meth | Opioid | Drug Paraphernalia |
2015 | 1,223 | 30.3% | 4.3% | 12.8% | 9% | 6% | 7.7% |
2016 | 1,613 | 24.9% | 4.1% | 13.6% | 8.5% | 4.4% | 18.8% |
2017 | 1,574 | 17.6% | 4.2% | 15.1% | 14.8% | 5.3% | 21.2% |
2018 | 1,557 | 14.9% | 2.2% | 16.2% | 18.6% | 5.3% | 26.8% |
2019 | 2,090 | 17.6% | 2.4% | 18.6% | 22.5% | 5.7% | 22.2% |
2020 | 2,101 | 14.6% | 3% | 19.4% | 23.1% | 6.3% | 21.7% |
2021 | 1,815 | 15.5% | 4.2% | 19.9% | 22.2% | 5% | 22% |
2022 | 1,414 | 19.6% | 4.6% | 19.7% | 23% | 3.6% | 17% |
2023* | 1,112 | 18.2% | 5.3% | 19.9% | 21.3% | 4.6% | 19.3% |
*Statistics for 2023 are still preliminary and do not account for the entire calendar year.
There are a few clear patterns that can be ascertained from this data set. The total arrests related to substance abuse hit their peak during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is consistent with data from other counties and states throughout the country. Additionally, alcohol-related arrests have dropped dramatically over the past few years, while meth arrests and arrests involving drug paraphernalia have risen substantially. Cocaine and marijuana arrests have increased as well, but at much slower rates. While this data provides a glimpse into the kinds of drugs that people are abusing in Howard County and how trends have changed in recent years, it’s vital to consider a few factors that can skew the data.
The data related to opioids would make it seem as though opioid abuse is relatively uncommon in Kokomo. The reality is that Kokomo and the rest of Howard County have a serious problem with opioid addiction. The reason that the data doesn’t overtly reflect the uptick in opioid abuse cases is that many people in Kokomo abuse opioid prescription drugs, which typically does not lead to arrests. Additionally, many of the arrests involving drug paraphernalia include needles that are used to inject heroin, even if no heroin or other opioids were present at the time of the arrest.
Sadly, the number of deaths due to drug overdose has remained consistently high in recent years, and this is one of the most accurate indicators of widespread abuse. Howard County recorded 16 deaths in 2016, 39 deaths in 2017, 28 deaths in 2018, and 31 deaths in 2019. The county saw overdose deaths peak during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 41 deaths in 2020, 44 deaths in 2021, and 38 deaths in 2022. Preliminary data from 2023 has recorded 13 deaths, though it’s too early to know if overdose deaths are actually in decline.
