Meth: The Continuing Risk
Methamphetamine, a thrill-drug, known on the street as “speed”, “meth”, “chalk” or, in crystal form, “ice”, “glass”, and “tina”, has become the low-cost drug of choice in many communities, supplanting even crack cocaine and heroin for cheap thrills. It is relatively easy to make, broiled in saucepots and cookers, from readily available items. All one needs is the reckless will to do it, and presto.
Why would a person take the risk? Well, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the user, “experiences an intense sensation, called a ‘rush’ or ‘flash,’ that lasts only a few minutes and is described as extremely pleasurable.” The downsides to this precipitous spike in mood are: long bouts of wakefulness, frenetic behavior and restlessness, a decrease in appetite, hypothermia, and insomnia. There are other effects: users may experience confusion, anxiety, paranoia, tremors, and even seizures. Methamphetamine also leads to an increased heart rate and can cause high blood pressure. Use of the drug can also damage brain cells, potentially causing strokes. Often damage to the brain is not immediately detectable, only becoming manifest months later. In fact, Meth causes damage to the brain similar to that caused by Altzheimers or epilepsy The long and the short of it is – one way or another, Meth hastens death.
With such information out there, one would imagine people staying away from the drug in droves, but, in fact, recent studies showed upwards of 6 percent of all high school seniors had tried Meth at least once, with upwards of 5 percent of juniors trying the drug. The drug seems to be particularly popular in the American Southwest. In Phonenix, over 40 percent of arrestees tested positive for Meth. In Los Angeles, over 28 percent tested positive. It has also caught on in the urban gay scene, doing the work that used to be done by amyl nitrate “poppers”; except people are doing it in injectable form, putting themselves at increased risk for HIV and a host of other blood-borne pathogens.
The production of Meth is itself a dangerous habit. People are often burned, even blinded, when the household materials they are using to cook Meth, such as ammonium chloride, explode. Because it is cheap to make, and is made with available household items, user desperate for the drug will often try to concoct it themselves. This is only one of many tertiary horrors associated with the drug.
Once, outlaw motorcycle gangs controlled the production and trafficking of methamphetamine in America. Nowadays, Mexico-based operators dominate the current market. They are aided by the accessibility of the chemicals needed to cook Meth, as well as their access to elaborate smuggling routes and clandestine border town drug rings. They also run a number of “super labs”, which can produce Meth in enormous quantities over a short period of time. It has become virtually impossible to keep up with the rapid production of Meth by these groups south of the border. DEA agents are getting more and more vigilant, however, and initiatives are now in place to stop the smuggling rings which had gone unrecognized for years as more attention was directed to traditional sources of the drug such as biker gangs.
Authorities have woken up in recent years to the precipitous climb in Meth production, as well as use. The institution of Meth as a “party drug” is particularly alarming to drug enforcement agents across the county. First-time users have no realistic idea of how the drug will affect them, making the casual use and ease of availability even more frightening.
In a ten year span, from 1994 to 2004, the number of people admitting themselves to treatment programs for methamphetamine addiction increased from 33,443 in 1994, to the astronomical figure of 129,079 in 2004. This is both alarming and encouraging, for people – including the users themselves –are waking up to the need for treatment.
September, 2006, was National Recovery Month. Although that attention is welcome, Sunset Malibu would like every month to be National Recovery Month, and we encourage individuals experiencing the torment of Methamphetamine addiction to seek treatment in our luxurious and beautiful facility overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Contrary to popular opinion, there are long-term effects to short term use of any drug. Meth is particularly potent, even more so in liquid form; and it is now more important than ever to address your use of the drug. We are a private facility, and you need not be ashamed to walk through our doors. We respect confidentiality. Meth use, as crack did in the ‘80s’s, has a particular stigma nowadays, and we fully understand the embarrassment people often feel at the thought of their addiction to the drug. At Sunset Malibu we know Meth use cuts across all race and class lines. We encourage you to take the step of entering our facility, and make a positive change in your life.
