Meth: Speeding toward death

These "before and after" photos show how meth devastates the user's health in a short time. Speed, chalk, crank, glass, ice, sketch, lemon drop, crystal – If you don't recognize these common names for methamphetamine (meth), you might not recognize the makeshift "lab" manufacturing it next door to you. After a friend or relative uses meth, you might not recognize them either.

What is meth?

A homemade, highly addictive, extremely damaging drug, methamphetamine (meth) can come in powder form or be crystalline like rock candy. It may be inhaled, smoked, swallowed or injected.

Meth is made from a cooked slurry of ingredients that might include cold medicine, battery acid, brake cleaner, anhydrous ammonia, drain cleaner, or other caustic and hazardous materials. So it's no surprise that it can devastate the health of someone who uses it, the people who make it, and the children who live and play nearby.

Why do people try it?

Some people, especially young women, first take meth thinking it will help them overcome shyness or lose weight. Because it is quickly addicting, experimentation can have disastrous results.
Symptoms of meth use include inability to sleep, heightened sensitivity to noise/scratching, anorexia, tremors or convulsions, rapid eye movement. If you can't avoid a person on meth, move and speak softly and slowly, keep your hands visible, use caution.

The rush-high-crash cycle

Taking methamphetamine (meth) can put even the first-time user into a rush-high-crash cycle.

The drug very quickly produces an intense, euphoric rush.
A high – a feeling of energy, alertness and well-being –may last up to 12 hours or more.
The high is followed by a crash of intense agitation, depression, paranoia or anxiety, and consequently a craving for more of the drug.

This cycle makes people spiral into heavy usage, during which they may not eat or sleep for days at a time.

Highly addictive

It's not unusual for people to become addicted to methamphetamine (meth) the first time they use it.

"Unlike heroin and many other drugs, there are no medications known to help people stop craving meth," says Tracy Powell, MD, emergency physician at Buffalo Hospital.

The effects linger in the body for a long time, exceeding the length of many treatment plans. Addicts are often so violent, exhausted and ill when they start treatment, they aren’t able to stay awake, much less participate in therapy.

Ruins the user's health

Meth users may experience convulsions, high body temperature, stroke, shaking, stomach cramps, heart damage, blood vessel damage and more.

Long-term users may have auditory hallucinations, paranoia, and violent rages. They may feel like bugs are crawling under their skin and scratch at them. Permanent brain damage, extreme anorexia, skin abscesses, tooth and bone loss, suicidal tendencies and violent behavior are common effects of meth.
Photo of children's toys within a meth lab - Children live in more than half of homes where meth labs are found.

Generates violent crime

Meth users are often very violent as a result of the drug and their hallucinations. They often steal materials to make meth, or to buy meth. Domestic abuse is common in homes where meth is used.

A big problem, growing fast

Meth-related adult court case filings in Minnesota rose 736 percent between 1999 and 2004. Treatment admissions for meth rose 292 percent between 1999 and 2003.

In Wright County alone, up to 75 percent of all crime is meth-related.

"Meth can be made anywhere, even in the back of a car, so it's difficult for law enforcement agencies to find meth labs," says Gary Miller, Wright County sheriff.

Karla Heeter, Wright County commissioner, adds, "In the past 10 years, more than 100 meth labs were seized in Wright County, costing taxpayers nearly a half a million dollars in toxic waste clean-up efforts on top of the personal toll this drug takes on its users and their families."
Report suspicious sites to police. Clues include secretive occupants; frequent visitors at unusual times; chemical smells; trash - chemical containers, coffee filters, cold medicine packages, duct tape rolls, red-stained cloth; blacked out windows.

Damaging the environment, families

The process of cooking flammable, caustic chemicals not only makes toxic vapors, but can start fires or cause explosions. In fact, 15 percent of meth labs are discovered because of a fire or explosion.

Making one pound of meth produces about five pounds of toxic waste, most of which are illegally and irresponsibly disposed of.

Children live in more than half of homes where meth labs are found. Besides being taken from their homes, these kids (as well as adults) must be decontaminated – all traces of chemical residue washed off – and given clean clothes before they can be treated.

What's being done?

To reduce access to methamphetamine (meth) ingredients, many pharmacies and retailers, including Allina Community Pharmacies, are placing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products behind counters. Legislation has been proposed to more tightly control those medicines.

Community efforts like Wright County's MEADA (Methamphetamine Education and Drug Awareness) Coalition educate and involve citizens in the fight against meth. For more information, visit www.meada.org or call 763-682-7713.