The Menace of Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug that remains a major burden on users, their families, communities, and law enforcement agencies in the United States.

According to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 4 percent of the U.S. population, or 10.5 million Americans ages 12 or older, have used methamphetamine at least once in their life for nonmedical purposes. Fortunately, less than one percent of adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12 and 25 are current or regular users, and usage rates have declined over the past 10 years.

Although the domestic production of methamphetamine is down in the United States, these decreases have been offset by increased production in Mexico.

Methamphetamine is a Schedule II controlled substance that can be prescribed, but most methamphetamine that is abused is manufactured in underground or illegal laboratories. It is related to the legally prescribed stimulant amphetamine but has stronger effects. Known on the street as speed, meth, tweak, uppers, or black beauties, the drug is taken in pill form, or snorted or injected in powdered form. Crystallized methamphetamine, a more powerful form of the drug, is smoked. The drug causes an immediate feeling of increased activity or a "rush" along with decreased appetite.

Wide appeal

The stimulant lures people wanting to get high, but it also appeals to women trying to lose weight or seeking a burst of energy to get through life. Women use meth at rates that are about equal to men. When the drug starts to wear off, however, abusers face two options:

• Suffer through what can be a three-day bottoming-out period of irritability, listlessness, and headaches.

• Take another dose to relieve their temporary suffering and risk the beginning of addiction.

More and more people are taking that second dose. People hear the myths that the drug does good things and has an effect that lasts 12 hours a dose. They feel they can work longer hours, study more, and lose weight.

It also can be easily found. Unlike other stimulants, methamphetamine can be made in the kitchen sink using cheap household ingredients; however, it is a potentially explosive and dangerous process.

Addiction sets in quickly because of the way the drug is taken. Most methamphetamine users either smoke or inject the stimulant; both methods of ingestion rapidly bring on euphoria. Addiction is closely tied to how quickly a user feels a drug's effect.

Excess energy

The euphoria is followed by up to 12 hours of what feels to the user like endless energy. Everything speeds up; there is a decreased need for sleep. Users talk a lot and lose their appetite.

The stimulant coaxes the body to work harder. The heart rate increases and metabolism speeds up. The brain's ability to balance sedation and activity is altered. The increase in heart rate can lead to aneurysms and heart failure, even in the very young, as the drug drives the heart to exhaustion.

Although people who abuse cocaine also get a feeling of euphoria, cocaine has a different effect on the body. The body quickly gets rid of cocaine, and the good feeling that follows taking the drug rapidly diminishes. Methamphetamine, however, remains in the body far longer, prolonging its effects.

People who are chronic methamphetamine abusers can suffer long-term health effects. In particular, areas of the brain that control speed of muscle movement, verbal learning, emotions and memory can be damaged. Some of the damage may be reversed if a person quits abusing the drug, but recovery can take years. Methamphetamine abuse also increases the risk for stroke, and this damage can be irreversible.