About Amphetamine and Methampetamine…

Street Names: ice, crystal, glass, tina, speed, meth, jibb, gak, ladies speed, mye, chalk, crank, crystal meth, C.R., go, go fast, geek, geet, red rock, tweak, amp, prope dope, P2P, poor man’s coke, pink glass, zip

Amphetamine and methamphetamine are not new synthetic drugs. Marketed as Benzedrine in North America and the UK in the ‘20s and '30s, amphetamine (and its more powerful cousin methamphetamine) was used in low doses as a diet aid and to treat narcolepsy and depression. Governments on both sides in WWII gave troops and pilots meth and pharmaceutical amphetamines.

In the 50’s amphetamines became available by prescription only and by the 80’s governments limited public access to known precursor chemicals (ingredients) to answer the rise in home chem labs producing the illegal substance. Meth didn’t become popular as a street drug until the late 80’s and in the early 90’s a crystal smoke-able form of meth (crystal meth) quickly became popular.

How it works

Amphetamines (prescription or street varieties) work the same way — by stimulating the heart and breathing functions, tightening blood vessels and causing sleeplessness. Like other stimulants, meth floods the brain with dopamine, a neurotransmitter, which influences body movement, emotions and feelings of pleasure and pain. Its effects can last up to 16hrs.

But meth is even more powerful than amphetamine.

For example, using cocaine will boost dopamine levels by 400%; Crystal meth up to 1500%. (NAHO 2006) The unnatural flood of dopamine disrupts the brain’s ability to create or use the chemical naturally. Because of this, users who quit meth struggle to find pleasure in anything and are often depressed, and the only way back up is more meth. (The brain may repair the damage over time, but long-time addicts often struggle with memory loss, short attention spans and other problems.) Some Canadian addiction experts say that coming off crystal meth is worse than heroin or cocaine and point to the 92% relapse rate among crank addicts as proof.

Meth stays in your body’s system for a long time. There are reports of new inmates who are regular meth users selling their own urine for the meth it contains.

Signs and Symptoms

Addicts of meth can be in an almost constant state of ‘fight or flight’ with the increased sensory perception – lights are brighter, sounds are louder, etc. Police are trained to speak with low voices and slow movements to prevent further agitation.

‘Tweaking’ refers to an OCD like repetitive behaviour users high on meth do without realizing the harm, sometimes for hours at a time. Meth bugs refer to severe and chronic users’ perception of their skin crawling, or bugs crawling all over them. If they are desperate enough, they will pick at the scabs and eat them for the meth that’s still in their bodies. Meth mouth is a term that applies to the tooth decay and loss of teeth many meth addicts suffer. Many meth addicts are underweight because the drug suppresses appetite.

Crystal meth is one of a few substances that will penetrate the barrier between a mother and fetus causing infants to be born addicted.

Some long term effects of using meth can be: Schizoprehia and bi-polar disorders, paranoid psychosis, depression, fatigue, cravings, dilated pupils, suicide, psychotic behaviours and auditory hallucinations.

How is it used?

Meth is available in a wide variety of forms: ingest (swallow), snort, smoke or inject. This variety combined with the often low cost of crystal meth is what makes this drug so popular among poor and rural youth. Users are very particular often about which amphetamine they use and how they use it. Those interested in pharmaceutical amphetamines won’t touch the street or ‘dirty’ drugs. Those who inject or snort have a wider selection, but those who choose to smoke are more limited and must find a freebase form like crystal meth.

Canadian Statistics

• 65% of drugs sold as ecstasy (in which buyers are presuming to receive the drug MDMA) actually contain varying amounts of methamphetamine.
• 62% of meth found in Japan is from Canada
• Police in Alberta estimate that about 70% to 75% of the ecstasy sold on the street contains methamphetamine
• 67% street-involved youth in British Columbia reported having used crystal meth (Public Health Agency 2006)
• homosexual or bisexual students were 26 times more likely to have used crystal meth than their heterosexual counterparts (J Adolesc Health, 2006)
• crystal meth use has significantly increased from 2.5% in 1999 to 9.5% in 2005 (Public Health Agency 2006)

True or False

The “Meth Watch” signs posted in pharmacies warn patrons that staff are trained to watch for the symptoms of someone addicted to meth.

F. The ‘Meth Watch’ sign means that all medications containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are found behind the counter and staff are alert for suspicious purchases.