All of these chemicals are toxic and can cause permanent damage to our bodies. Nonetheless, for some time now, Canadians have deliberately been using such lethal chemicals in a drug called methamphetamine. You may otherwise know this drug under one of its street names: Crystal Meth, Tina, Ice, Glass or Speed.

Methamphetamine can be made from pretty much anything that can be found in the chemical section of the local hardware store. The main ingredient found in these white, powdery and odorless crystals is ephedrine or pseudo-ephedrine, a chemical plant derivative (Ephedra sinica) that dilates the bronchial tubes (airways to the lungs) and stimulates the cardiac and central nervous systems. Technically, ephedrine constitutes 80% of the ingredients in methamphetamine. The rest is improvised in the making of the drug. Since the production of this drug is illegal and small scale, its “cooks” (those who make the drug) can use almost any chemical product they want: paint solvent, stripper, iodine, insecticide, laundry detergent, etc.

Considering that the ingredients of methamphetamine can vary so much, it’s not surprising that its effects can also vary widely. No one ever really knows what they are taking. Furthermore, even though the drug is approximately six times less expensive than cocaine, it is estimated that it is ten times more potent and that a user can become addicted to it much more quickly than to cocaine.

Six times cheaper than cocaine!

This means that a single dose of Meth, i.e. a tenth of a gram, sells for only 10 to $15. As result, it has become a popular drug among youth, especially street youth and those who go to raves and hang out at night clubs.

And ten times more potent?

Yes, ten times stronger. Actually, Meth is also known as “Poor Man’s Cocaine,” because it has the same effects on the body as cocaine does, but it is a lot cheaper to make. Its effects are nonetheless just as harmful. There are four ways to take methamphetamine: smoking, injection using a needle, snorting (sniffing) or chewing. Each method gives the user different results, but in general this drug makes people feel alert, energetic, confident and chatty, and gives them a sensation of well-being that lasts approximately 12 hours. In the meantime, it suppresses hunger and fatigue. After the rush, however, come depression and exhaustion, which often lead the user to take the drug again to try to get the euphoric feeling back.

Consequently, the risk and the rate of addiction are very high. Tolerance or the amount of the drug required to feel the same effect happens fast. Physically as well as psychologically, the need for methamphetamine quickly becomes an obsession for users. Unfortunately, unlike a drug like heroin, for which there exists methadone, a drug to help users fight the addiction, methamphetamine remains too unpredictable for researchers to develop a medication that would reduce its effects or addictiveness. There is no miracle cure for a methamphetamine addiction .

Meth also triggers a series of disastrous short term effects: irritability, hypertension, insomnia, mental confusion, anxiety, paranoia, violence, and risky sexual behavior following a loss of inhibitions. Long term effects are as numerous, and they are much more serious. To name only a few: hallucinations, structural changes in the brain, memory loss, difficulty in executing complex tasks and tremors similar to those caused by Parkinson’s disease.

In fact, the drug many believe harmless is one of the deadliest illegal drugs found today. Some toxicologists even say the life expectancy of a first-time user, if they continue using regularly afterwards, is only seven years! The drug’s physical effects are certainly scary: teeth rot, cheeks become hollow and organs shrink. It also causes skin infections and sores, reproductive system dysfunction and pulmonary swelling. The toxic chemicals in methamphetamine literally eat away at the user’s internal organs and systems.

But where does this drug come from?

Methamphetamine was first produced and soon after arrived in the United States and western Canada in the 1920s. It was originally sold as a prescription drug, namely to treat nasal congestion, hyperactivity, obesity and depression. Then, during the Second World War, soldiers used it as a stimulant, because its ingredients would allow them to stay awake for extended periods of time. In 1970 the “medication” was finally banned. Its possession, traffic and exportation are also controlled. Possession of chemicals used in its production with intent to manufacture the drug is similarly illegal. These laws resulted in the illegal production of Meth, especially in biker and hippy communities. And since making it was so cheap, Meth quickly became popular, thus further increasing its use. Since the 1990s, and mostly because of the arrival of the Internet as a tool for communication, the drug has spread, especially in the western provinces and Québec. It is estimated that 6.4% of Canadians have taken methamphetamine at least once in their life.

Methamphetamine and youth

Media, police and health professionals are increasingly concerned by Meth’s impact on youth, and with good reason. More and more youth take this drug. As a matter of fact, in a survey conducted in 2004, more than 0.8% of them admitted to having used methamphetamine in the last twelve months! You may think this number is small, but it represents approximately 200 000 people! It is important to realize that, despite its accessibility and harmless appearance, this drug is extremely dangerous. No one controls its ingredients, and certainly not its effects on our bodies. There is absolutely no doubt about it: this drug is not worth the risk.

Links:

Health Canada – Fact sheet on methamphetamines

Health Canada – Be Drug Wise

Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission

Ephedrine – Health Canada fact sheet

Methadone – Canadian Health Network fact sheet