Methamphetamine: production, effects, and public health

Criminal Justice - Methamphetamine

METHAMPHETAMINE ABUSE

Methamphetamine is a dangerous recreational drug that is ingested either by smoking, snorting, or by injecting it directly into the bloodstream. It is known on the street as "meth," "speed," "crank," "ice," or "crystal," depending on its form. Users of the drug experience a euphoric burst of physical energy and often stay up for many days at a time without sleeping or eating, which is partly responsible for the dramatic physical deterioration typically associated with continual use (Schmalleger, 2008). Chronic users of methamphetamine are identifiable by their physical appearance and mannerisms because the drug also causes "twitchy" behavior such as involuntary teeth grinding and other facial mannerisms (SAMSHA, 2009).

Often, the combined effects of the teeth grinding, not eating or sleeping, and neglecting personal hygiene, methamphetamine users often have characteristic damage to their teeth, known as "meth mouth." Methamphetamine over-stimulates the production of neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain, which reduces the user's ability to produce and respond to those neurotransmitters without the drug, accounting for its powerful addictive properties. It also causes seizures and psychotic episodes, accounting for thousands of hospital admissions every year in communities across the country where methamphetamine use is particularly high (SAMSHA, 2009).

In the United States, methamphetamine abuse represents a tremendous drain on public funds and resources, because in many communities, methamphetamine users are responsible for a disproportionate amount of petty crimes such as burglaries and other forms of theft motivated by the need to purchase the drug continually and facilitated by the reduction in judgment and reasoning in addition to the fact that meth users typically remain awake through the night (Schmalleger, 2008). Precisely because of the link between methamphetamine abuse and other crimes (not to mention the extremely harmful addictive and health consequences on the users), even the most liberal opponents of the government's war on drugs support the enforcement of anti-drug laws with respect to methamphetamine (Dershowitz, 2002). Unlike other drugs of abuse that must be imported from other parts of the world at great expense and requiring sophisticated planning and resources, the production of methamphetamine is conducted in makeshift meth labs set up in private homes or in abandoned structures, which partly explains its prevalence in rural communities.

Similarly, one of the primary ingredients for manufacturing methamphetamine is an anhydrous ammonia, which is used extensively in farming in the manufacture of pesticides, making rural areas ideal for meth labs because of the increased availability of potential sources of that ingredient. The production of methamphetamine is extremely dangerous because of the chemicals involved which can cause explosions if mishandled.