Information
Fact Sheet - Methamphetamine
What is methamphatine?
Methamphetamine (MA), which is known by various street names including 'speed', 'meth', 'crystal meth' and 'chalk', is a white, odourless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that readily dissolves in water or alcohol. It can be snorted, swallowed, injected or smoked. In its smokable form it is referred to as, 'ice' 'crank', 'crystal', 'glass' or 'tina' because of its transparent, sheet-like crystals, and is smoked in a pipe like crack cocaine. The smoke is odourless and leaves a residue that may be resmoked.
MA is a substance chemically related to amphetamine, but its effects in the central nervous system are longer lasting and more toxic. Both of these drugs belong to a class of drugs known as stimulants, and are highly addictive.
What are its effects?
Immediately after smoking or injecting the drug, the user experiences an intense rush that lasts for only a few minutes but is extremely pleasurable. This rush is followed by a prolonged euphoria, or "high". Snorting or taking the drug orally produces euphoria but not the rush. Snorting produces effects within 3-5 min and oral use produces effects within 15-20 min. The duration of the effects can vary and depends on the amount taken. Effects tend to last for 4 to 12 hours or more. MA is a powerful stimulant that increases attention, decreases fatigue, increases activity, decreases appetite and increases respiration.
What are the health risks of using meth?
An overdose of MA may result in hyperthermia and convulsions, and death if untreated. The risk of overdose is highest when the drug is injected. Because MA is a highly addictive substance with a high potential for abuse, long term use of MA can easily lead to addiction. With chronic use, tolerance develops to the pleasurable effects of the drug and the user tries to maintain the high by taking higher doses, using more frequently or changing the route of administration. Often abusers neglect to eat or sleep while binging on the drug, often using as much as one gram every 2-3 hours over several days until the user runs out of drug.
MA use is associated with episodes of violent behaviour, paranoia, anxiety, confusion and insomnia. Long term use has also been associated with psychotic behaviour including paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances and delusions (such as 'formication', or the feeling of insects crawling on the skin). The paranoia may result in homicidal or suicidal thoughts. Psychotic symptoms may persist for months after the drug is discontinued.
MA can also cause a variety of medical complications, including weight loss and cardiovascular problems: increased heart rate, arrhythmia, hypertension, and irreversible stroke-producing damage to small blood vessels in the brain.
Injection users who share injection equipment are also at increased risk of acquiring and transmitting blood borne viruses such as HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. Chronic MA use may also result in skin abscesses in injection users.
Who uses it?
MA appeals to people who wish to stay awake for extended periods of time and maintain their performance ability, for example, long-distance drivers and students. It is also used by party drug users, intravenous drug users and is popular among men who have sex with men.
How many people use meth in Canada?
It is difficult to precisely determine the prevalence of MA in Canada. The general population surveys, using telephone interviews, or student use surveys done in schools, have shown low prevalence of MA use. These surveys, however, have likely missed hard-to-reach populations such as street youth and aboriginal communities in remote areas. With these limitations in mind, the Canadian Addiction Survey 2004 showed that 6.4% of Canadians reported using speed at least once in their lifetime, with only less than 1% having used it in the 12 preceding months. Other anecdotal information, such as reports of increased hospital admissions, police contacts, numbers of individuals seeking treatment and clandestine laboratories producing MA point to an increased prevalence of MA use in the Western provinces.
How does it work in the body?
MA acts by releasing very high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine into areas of the brain that regulate mood and body movements. Both the rush and the high produced by MA are believed to be caused by the release of dopamine into areas of the brain that regulate feelings of pleasure. Cocaine is another example of a stimulant. Although MA and cocaine share many similarities, some important differences exist. At the nerve cell level, both cocaine and MA cause an accumulation of the neurotransmitter dopamine which appears to be responsible for the stimulation and euphoria experienced by users. However, unlike MA, cocaine is quickly removed and almost completely eliminated from the body (50% of the drug is removed from the body in 1 hour). MA has a much longer duration of action and a greater percentage of the drug remains unchanged in the body (50% of the drug is removed from the body in 12 hours), which means that MA remains in the brain longer and prolongs the stimulant effects. To illustrate, smoking MA produces a high that can last from 8-24 hours while smoking cocaine produces a high that lasts 20-30min.
What are the treatments available for methamphetamine dependence?
At the present time, the most effective treatment for MA dependence are cognitive behavioural interventions which are designed to help individuals modify their thoughts and behaviours and increase their coping skills to deal with life stresses. There are currently no effective drug interventions to treat MA dependence.
How is it produced?
MA in Canada is largely produced in clandestine laboratories using ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and other chemicals commonly available in local drug and hardware stores. These chemicals, known as precursors, are used to produce MA through a chemical reaction.
What are some of the hazards of meth production?
MA production poses many hazards, including:
1) explosions and fires;
2) toxicity;
3) contamination of the environment.
Chemicals used in the production of MA are highly flammable and toxic. People working in these labs are exposed to toxic vapors and other contaminants. Personnel dismantling these labs, police and persons not participating in the production of MA, but who reside in the same dwelling may also be contaminated. The disposal of the waste resulting from the production of MA is often done by dumping into the sewers or the environment. Dumping into sewers can contaminate municipal sewage systems and lead to explosions in the sewer system. Waste material can also be dumped directly on the ground causing contamination of soil, surface water and ground water.
How is it regulated in Canada?
In Canada, the possession, trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking, production, importation/exportation and possession for the purpose of exportation of MA is controlled by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) and Part G, Controlled Drugs, Food and Drugs Regulations. MA, like all amphetamines, is in Schedule III to the CDSA, which means a person found in illegal possession of MA may be guilty of an offense.
Precursor chemicals used in the manufacture of MA are also controlled by the CDSA and related Regulations, namely the Precursor Control Regulations (PCR). The PCR, which were fully implemented by January 1, 2004, provide the tools to monitor and control the sale/provision, import, export, production, and packaging of precursor chemicals frequently used in the clandestine production of illicit drugs.
What is the Canadian Meth Watch Coalition?
The Canadian Meth Watch Coalition is a coalition of retail partners, law enforcement agencies, and pharmacies. Their goal is to conduct an education campaign aimed at retailers to reduce the theft and suspicious sales of products containing precursors used in the illicit manufacturing of methamphetamine.
Health Canada has been participating in meetings with the Canadian Meth Watch Coalition on an advisory and observer basis. Health Canada supports the commitment of groups such as the Canadian Meth Watch Coalition, which complement the Precursor Control Regulations by increasing awareness and implementing voluntary controls for the sale of precursors.
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