Methamphetamine (methylamphetamine or desoxyephedrine), popularly shortened to meth, is a psychostimulant and sympathomimetic drug. It is prescribed for severe cases of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or narcolepsy under the brand name Desoxyn. It is also used illegally for recreational purposes.
"Crystal meth" refers to the crystalline, smokeable form of the drug and is not used for the drug in pill or powdered form.
Methamphetamine enters the brain and triggers a cascading release of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin.
To a lesser extent Methamphetamine acts as a dopaminergic and adrenergic reuptake inhibitor and in high concentrations as a monamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). Since it stimulates the mesolimbic reward pathway, causing euphoria and excitement, it is prone to abuse and addiction.
Users may become obsessed or perform repetitive tasks such as cleaning, hand-washing, or assembling and disassembling objects. Withdrawal is characterized by excessive sleeping, eating and depression-like symptoms, often accompanied by anxiety and drug-craving. Users of methamphetamine often take one or more benzodiazepines as a means of "coming down".
Routes of Administration
The usual route for medical use is oral administration. In recreational
use, it can be swallowed, snorted, smoked, dissolved in water and injected (or even without water, in what is called a dry
shot), inserted anally (with or without dissolution in water; also known as a booty bump or shafting), or into the urethra.
The potential for addiction is greater when it is delivered by methods that cause the concentration in the blood to rise quickly,
principally because the effects desired by the user are felt more quickly and with a higher intensity than through a moderated
delivery mechanism.
Studies have shown that the subjective
pleasure of drug use (the reinforcing component of addiction) is proportional to the rate that the blood level of the drug
increases. In general, smoking is the fastest mechanism (i.e., it causes the blood concentration to rise the most quickly
in the shortest period of time as it allows the substance to travel to the brain through a more direct route than intravenous
injection), followed by injecting, anal insertion, insufflation and swallowing.
Injection
Injection is a popular method for
use, also known as slamming, but carries quite serious risks. The hydrochloride salt of methamphetamine is soluble in water;
injection users may use any dose from 125 mg to over a gram, using a small needle. This dosage range may be fatal to non-addicts;
addicts rapidly develop tolerance to the drug. Injection users often experience skin rashes (sometimes called "speed
bumps") and infections at the site of injection. As with any injected drug, if a group of users shares a common needle
or any type of injecting equipment without sterilization procedures, blood-borne diseases such as HIV or hepatitis can be
transmitted as well.
Other Methods
Very little research has focused on anal insertion as a method, and anecdotal evidence of its effects
is infrequently discussed, possibly due to social taboos in many cultures regarding the anus. This is often known within communities
that use methamphetamine for sexual stimulation as a "butt rocket," "booty bump," "keistering,"
or "plugging," and is anecdotally reported to increase sexual pleasure while the effects of the drug last. The rectum
is where the majority of the drug would likely be taken up, through the mucous membranes lining its walls.
Smoking
"Smoking"
methamphetamine actually refers to vaporizing it to produce fumes, rather than burning and inhaling the resulting smoke, as
with tobacco. It is commonly smoked in glass pipes, or in aluminum foil heated by a flame underneath.
This method
is also known as "chasing the white dragon" (as derived from the method of smoking heroin known as "chasing
the dragon"). There is little evidence that methamphetamine inhalation results in greater toxicity than any other route
of administration. Lung damage has been reported with long-term use, but manifests in forms independent of route (pulmonary
hypertension and associated complications), or limited to injection users (pulmonary emboli).
Common immediate side effects:
- Euphoria
- Increased energy and attentiveness
- Diarrhea, nausea
- Excessive sweating
- Loss of appetite, insomnia, tremor, jaw-clenching (Bruxism)
- Agitation, compulsive fascination with repetitive tasks (Punding)
- Talkativeness, irritability, panic attacks
- Increased libido
- Dilated pupils
Side effects associated with chronic use:
- Drug craving
- Weight loss
- Withdrawal-related depression and anhedonia
- Rapid tooth decay ("meth mouth")
- Amphetamine psychosis, mainly due to sleep deprivation
- Side effects associated with overdose:
- Brain damage (Neurotoxicity)
- Formication (sensation of flesh crawling with bugs, with possible associated compulsive picking and infecting sores)
- Paranoia, delusions, hallucinations
- Rhabdomyolysis (Muscle breakdown) which leads to Kidney failure
- Death from over dose is usually due to stroke or heart failure, but can also be caused by hyperthermia or kidney failure.
In addition to increasing the need for sex and enabling the user to engage in prolonged sexual activity, methamphetamine lowers inhibitions and may cause users to behave recklessly or to become forgetful. Some users attribute this to a feeling as if reality is broken into independent segments, and that while in a certain segment the users do not feel obligated to engage in precautions actions if those actions affect other segments than the one the user is currently in. However, individual experiences of recreational methamphetamine use is too diverse to make categorical broad statements.
Users may even report negative experiences after prolonged use, which contradict reported feelings, thoughts, and attitudes achieved at similar dosages under similar circumstances but at earlier periods of an extended or prolonged cycle.
Short-Term Use Can Result In:
- Alertness and inability to sleep: Something might be up if you notice a change in sleeping patterns -- especially staying up for days on end and then sleeping or fatigued for a few days straight.
- Nervous physical activity: You notice fidgeting -- and possibly scratching or picking at skin.
- Decreased appetite: Uninterested in food, and starts to become dangerously thin.
- Euphoria and rush: Might be extremely alert and energized, even after being up all night.
- Increased respiration and/or increased body temperature: Might appear out of breath for no reason (meth is a stimulant that can speed up one's heart rate.)
- Burns, nosebleeds or track marks: Strange burns on lips or fingers, may be smoking meth through a hot glass or metal pipe. Snorting meth could cause nosebleeds and eventually eat away at the septum inside the nose. If using meth intravenously there could be track marks on arms.
- Carelessness about appearance: Stopped showering? Lost interest in grooming? No longer brushes teeth?
- Deceit or secretiveness: Lying to you all the time? Plans sounding fishy or vague? Bedroom door always closed? Seemingly endless string of excuses to justify behavior?
- Violence and aggression: Meth affects the central nervous system, which in turn can affect a person's mood. Look for wild mood swings, hostility or abusive behavior.
- Presence of inhaling and injecting paraphernalia: If you noticed razor blades, mirrors, straws, syringes, spoons or surgical tubing, this is a clear sign of drug abuse -- and a cry for help.
- Withdrawal from family and friends: Look for deteriorating relationships with family members and friends. May be depressed or exhibit a lack of enthusiasm -- and not share or express themselves as they used to.
- Loss of interest in school and extracurricular activities: Meth is highly addictive, and many users spend most of their free time looking for another way to find more of the drug. Therefore, interests that were once very important may all of a sudden seem insignificant.
- Problems at school: This can include slipping grades, absenteeism, and decreased motivation.
- Missing valuables: From stealing cash from your wallet to swiping valuables like jewelry and heirlooms to pawn for money to purchase more drugs.
Long-Term Use Can Result In:
- Dependence: Can't function in their day-to-day activities without meth, they are dependent - and possibly addicted.
- Addiction psychosis: This can include a number of disturbing behaviours.
- Hallucinations
- Paranoia
- Mood disturbances
- Repetitive motor activity
- Might talk to people who aren't there or become so paranoid that they won't leave the house.
- Severe anorexia: Some take meth to lose weight, and become dependant on the drug. The weight loss can be rather quick and drastic - leaving them looking unhealthy and skeleton-thin.
- Memory loss: Meth is very toxic and can affect the brain so much that the user may begin to show symptoms similar to Alzheimer's. Stroke, liver or heart failure: Meth puts the body in overdrive, which can fatally damage one's internal organs.
