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Information on Methamphetamine and Resources.
What is Meth? Methamphetamine (Meth) is an addictive stimulant that strongly activates certain systems in the brain
What does it look like? Methamphetamine is a crystal-like powdered substance that sometimes comes in large rock-like chunks.
What are the Effects?
Short Term: After the initial "rush," there is typically a state of high agitation that in some individuals can lead to violent behavior. Other possible immediate effects include increased wakefulness and insomnia, decreased appetite, irritability/aggression, anxiety, nervousness, convulsions and heart attack.
Long Term: Methamphetamine is addictive, and users can develop a tolerance quickly, needing larger amounts to get high. In some cases, users forego food and sleep and take more meth every few hours for days, 'binging' until they run out of the drug or become too disorganized to continue. Chronic use can cause paranoia, hallucinations, repetitive behavior (such as compulsively cleaning, grooming or disassembling and assembling objects), and delusions of parasites or insects crawling under the skin. Users can obsessively scratch their skin to get rid of these imagined insects. Long-term use, high dosages, or both can bring on full-blown toxic psychosis (often exhibited as violent, aggressive behavior). This violent, aggressive behavior is usually coupled with extreme paranoia. Methamphetamine use can also cause strokes and death.
Where is it made? Two-thirds of our country's meth supply is produced in super labs in Mexico and Southern California run by organized crime and street gangs. The remaining third is made in the U.S. in makeshift meth labs found in basements, bedrooms, kitchens garages, bedrooms and trunks of cars.
How is it made? Meth is made from a fairly simple recipe found on the internet and can be produced in as few as 6 to 8 hours using apparatus and cookware that can be quickly dismantled and stored or relocated to avoid detection. A mere $200 can buy the ingredients to produce an ounce of meth (enough to get 100 people high). Since cooking meth produces such large amounts of highly toxic waste, there is always a pending danger of explosion or fire which could endanger the lives of children and adults, as well as harm the surrounding environment.
How can Meth affect me and my community? unfortunately, meth can harm not only those who are addicted to the drug, but their family, friends and neighbors. Issues regarding, safety, law enforcement, health care and social workers can all arise when meth takes over a community. Learn more at drugfree.org
Source:National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).