Methamphetamine: the equal opportunity destroyer

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Editor’s note: In 25 years of working with addictive behaviors in both the non-profit and government sectors, Cindy Schaider has learned a lot about methamphetamine (meth). Schaider heads the Casa Grande Alliance, the Pinal County Anti-Meth Coalition and was instrumental in mentoring Maricopa’s MASH Drug Coalition. This featured article is from a presentation she delivered at the state’s Adolescent Health Conference and again via Central Arizona College’s distance learning in mid-April of this year.

What is meth? What are its effects? What are the symptoms of meth addiction? Where does meth come from and how is it made? And, finally, why is meth so attractive to teens?

Meth is “the equal opportunity destroyer.” It is in every ethnicity, every culture, every socio-economic group in age groups ranging from 8-9 to grandparents with most users in the age 18-30 range.

Surprisingly the fastest growing group of meth users is soccer moms, trying to do it all– raising kids, transporting them to games and school activities, doing housework and even holding down a job. Meth enables them to have more energy and get more done.

Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants and cocaine use is higher than meth use; however, revalence is not the same as morbidity. Not as prevalent in terms of usage, meth is more morbid – it kills or destroys lives.

Meth can be smoked, snorted, injected, eaten or inserted into body cavities. It is generally a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline easily dissolved in water or alcohol. The innocent looking bottle of water can actually be loaded with meth.

Due to a desire to mask the bitter taste, new meth varieties are flavored with chocolate, strawberry, cola or other flavors. Making pseudophedrine (Sudafed and similar products) more difficult to obtain over the counter has helped halt home meth labs although about 20 percent of meth for sale comes from mobile labs using toxic chemicals, which are highly flammable.

Some of the chemicals used include: acetone, anhydrous ammonia, antifreeze, brake fluid, carburetor cleaner, Drano, ether, iodine, lighter fluid and pool acid. There are five pounds of toxic waste to every one pound of meth cooked.

Today 80 percent of meth comes from super labs in Mexico, California or Oregon. The high quality meth made there, which is 90-95 percent pure, causes a higher level of addiction, including paranoia, homicidal or suicidal thoughts and general despair. The sense of pleasure is never as good as the first time so users spend their lives chasing the feeling of that first time.

Meth use causes decreased appetite, a sense of well being, increased physical activity, sleeplessness, hallucinations and sexual promiscuity. Especially attractive to teens, the user feels smarter, has improved short-term performance and temporary euphoria. Meth is a “friendship” drug that enhances social facilities so it seems fine to get high together.

What begins as a voluntary decision becomes compulsion as time goes by. According to Dr. Robert Rosseme’s pleasure study, food rates 100 on the pleasure scale with sex and alcohol rating 200 and cocaine rating 350. Meth use hits the top of this scale at a rating of 1250. No wonder teens find meth attractive.

Meth – crystal, ice, speed, crank glass, redneck cocaine, Tina, window cleaner, G, G-funk, shards or any of its 250 street names – creates an initial rush within five to 30 minutes, followed by a period of high agitation, even violence, which lasts six to eight hours. As the “high” wears off, the user begins “tweaking,” trying to avoid the crash; a binge and crash cycle is called a “run.”

Unfortunately, the effects of meth use are devastating and long lasting due to damage done to the central nervous system. Even after 14 months of abstinence memory and motor skills are lacking in the individual.

Other possible physical effects are skin lesions due to constricted blood flow and obsessive skin picking due to hallucinations about bugs under the skin. High blood pressure, a weakened immune system, cracked and rotten teeth, stroke, lung, kidney or liver damage, and brain damage similar to Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease are all possible.

Users can’t think clearly enough to do anything meaningful. One individual pounded nails in a board, then pounded them back out again over and over for six to eight hours. Users can perform only repetitive, meaningless tasks. They can take a VCR apart but can’t put it back together. They cannot think linearly.

Meth use also affects families. Every addict affects at least five or more people. Families are forced to self protect from petty theft, burglary, robbery, physical and sexual assault – and even murder. Often grandparents end up raising grandchildren due to the parents’ meth addiction.

In spite of all the damage and even death resulting from meth use, it remains “the equal opportunity destroyer,” and, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center, the primary drug threat in Arizona today.

Photo by Joyce Hollis