METHAMPHETAMINE OVERVIEW
(Download this overview as a PDF)

 

 

 

Meth (speed or chalk) or methamphetamine is a very addictive stimulant (psychostimulant) drug causing excitement and euphoria as it acts directly upon the brain’s reward mechanisms. An article in Wikipedia explains that

 

Methamphetamine rapidly enters the brain and causes a cascading release of norepinephrine and dopamine (and some serotonin).

 

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA Inforfacts)

 

… a very addictive stimulant drug… chemically related to amphetamine… but… the effects of methamphetamine are much more potent, longer lasting, and more harmful to the central nervous system.

The drug is used mostly recreationally although sometimes prescribed for certain conditions such as ADHD and narcolepsy with prescriptions are not to be refilled. It’s being made in illegal laboratories (increasingly in Mexico) and its productions endangers those near the labs as well as the environment.  NIDA continues:

 

Methamphetamine hydrochloride, clear chunky crystals resembling ice, which can be inhaled by smoking, is referred to as “ice,” “crystal,” “glass,” and “tina.”

 

Methamphetamine can be taken orally, instranasally (snorting the powder), by needle injection, or by smoking. Abusers may become addicted quickly, needing higher and higher doses and more often. At this time, the most effective treatments for (meth) addiction are behavioral therapies such as cognitive behavioral and contingency management interventions.

(Animal research over 30 years shows irreparable damage to brain tissue.) Noninvasive human brain mapping have shown alterations in the activity of the dopamine system. These alterations are asoociated with reduced motor speed and impaired verbal learning. Recent studies in chronic methampetamine abusers have also revealed severe structural and functional changes in areas of the brain associated with emotion and memory.

 

Taking even small amounts of methamphetamine can result in increased wakefulness, increased physical activity, decreased appetite, increased respiration, rapid heart rate, irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure, and hyperthermia. Other effects… may include irritability, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, tremors, convulsions, and cardiovascular collapse and death. Long-term effects may include paranoia, aggressiveness, extreme anorexia, memory loss, visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions, and severe dental problems.

 

During the 1990s, Karl Taro Greenfeld (see Articles) would smoke shabu with friends in Tokyo.

The drug was euphorically powerful, convincing us that we were capable of anything…. It’s always that way at the beginning: all promise and potential fun. The drug is like a companion telling you that you’re good enough, handsome enough, and smart enough, banishing all the little insecurities to your subconscious, liberating you from self-doubts yet making you feel totally and completely alive.

Methamphetamine is highly addictive, even after one use and especially when it is smoked or injected. Stephan Jenkins, singer in the band Third Eye Blind had this to say about its use (according to Wikipedia). “It makes you feel bright and shiny. It also makes you paranoid, incoherent and both destructive and pathetically and relentlessly self-destructive. Then you will do unconscionable things in order to feel bright and shiny again.

Some former users say one feels stupid or dull upon withdrawal from meth. This is because the brain feels the need for more “speed” to think more quickly.

 

John Brasswell calls meth “the quintessential American drug. American housewives, heads of state, businessmen and poets alike have acquired a taste for the yellow, crystalline powder. Everyone from Hitler to President Kennedy to Elvis, to Jack Kerouac indulged in one of its many forms, and its presence has been an invisible hand shaping events, preparing the ground for the strangest drug epidemic the world has ever seen.” (American Meth: A History…).

          > in the past year 1.4 million Americans, approximately 4%,  have used
                   meth
          > 62% of counties surveyed in 2005 reported increases in meth-related
                    domestic violence
          > Congress has passed a Combat Meth Epidemic Act to limit sales of over-
                   the-counter cold remedies containing related pseudoephredrine
          > law enforcement has cracked down on home labs; now 80% of illicit
                   meth comes from Mexican drug gangs and is twice as strong
          > nearly 50% of 500 sheriffs surveyed in 2005 said meth was their
                   highest drug threat
          >  meth cuts across socioeconomic borders… is among all populations

Writing in the Business (Money) section of USAToday (15Jul05), Stephanie Armour, after studying meth abuse in the work place, gave her article these titles: “Meth abuse at work continues to grow,” “Violence, lost productivity major concern for companies,” and “Meth improves work performance at first, but it’s all downhill from there.” She cited a 2005 University of Arkansas study of businesses in one county (Benton County, population 170,000) which estimated an annual loss of $21 million due to absenteeism and lost production.

 

The social harm done to families is another great concern. One of the country’s top experts on methamphetamine, Dr. Richard Rawson of UCLA Medical School, says:

 

… child abuse, neglect and violence—including sexual violence—have been associated with meth use. The effects on families, particularly children, can be devastating. (Dotson Rader, Parade Magazine, 26Nov06)

Rader’s article included a story of a 21-year-old apprentice plumber who shot his wife dead and killed himself as a result of meth abuse. Articles coming out of Devol, Oklahoma describe a state trooper and part time youth minister being killed by a meth addict while investigating the report of a car parked by the side of road with a slumped figure inside. The trooper car’s video camera caught a horrific struggle in which the meth-crazed addict, 4 inches taller and 50 pounds heavier, finally overcame the trooper, got control of his pistol and shot him as the trooper cried out “Oh, Lord… Jesus Christ—” his last words before the fatal shot. The shooter Ricky Ray Malone, 29, was brewing up a batch of meth in his car’s mobile meth lab when approached by the officer. It was the day after Christmas and the Highway Patrol Trooper, Nik Green, was the father of three.

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION & DISCUSSION

 

1. What story(-ies) about meth do you know? Do they collaborate this article?

 

2. Other drug epidemics seem to have caused more stir. Why do you think most of us are not alarmed about this epidemic?

3.  Do you know the sings of meth addiction? Can you name some of the changes in personality, physical appearance, and social/school performance that accompany abuse of this drug?

4.  What kind of discussion and education do you think need to happen to prevent the rise of this epidemic?

IMPLICATIONS

 

1.  According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, more than 13 million Americans have tried methamphetamines. The abuse of women and neglect of children makes this a high concern.

2.  The national and global losses due to methamphetamines must be astronomical.

3.  The high of this drug is likened to that of cocaine—only lasting longer. It gives feelings of great pleasure, euphoria and invincibility. One believes he or she can do anything. We should all face this reality and deal with it effectively.

 

 

Dean Borgman  cCYS