What is methamphetamine?
Methamphetamine is a stimulant that affects the central nervous system. Commonly known as “crystal,” “speed,” “meth,” or “Tina”, it is a white or off-white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water. Meth provides the user with sustained energy and a general sense of well-being. Along with increasing alertness and wakefulness, it masks the body’s need for food, water, or rest. It mirrors the body’s natural “fight or flight” response, a reaction that slows digestion and increases alertness and concentration. Meth can be snorted or smoked as is or dissolved in water and drunk or injected. The effects can last from 6 to 12 hours or more, depending on the individual’s tolerance and the dosage. With sufficient quantity of speed or use of time, a state of high agitation can develop along with extreme emotions and intense paranoia. These in turn can sometimes lead to violent behavior.
Methamphetamine (hereinafter referred to as meth) is a powerful, highly toxic, addictive drug that is illegally cooked in makeshift labs. Meth can be found in the form of pills, capsules, powder or chunks. It can be smoked, snorted, injected or eaten. Meth is also called crank, speed, crystal or ice. Meth labs have dramatically increased over the past several years because meth recipes are more readily available, it is relatively easy and cheap to make, and the resulting high lasts about 2 to 14 hours (versus about 15 minutes for a cocaine high).
Methamphetamine is a stimulant that affects the central nervous system. Commonly known as “crystal,” “speed,” “meth,” or “Tina”, it is a white or off-white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water. Meth provides the user with sustained energy and a general sense of well-being. Along with increasing alertness and wakefulness, it masks the body’s need for food, water, or rest. It mirrors the body’s natural “fight or flight” response, a reaction that slows digestion and increases alertness and concentration. Meth can be snorted or smoked as is or dissolved in water and drunk or injected. The effects can last from 6 to 12 hours or more, depending on the individual’s tolerance and the dosage. With sufficient quantity of speed or use over time, a state of high agitation can develop along with extreme emotions and intense paranoia. These can sometimes lead to violent behavior.
Methamphetamine, also known as “meth,” “speed,” “crank,” or “ice,” is a powerful, addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. Meth is a synthetic drug produced and sold as pills, capsules, or powder that can be smoked, snorted, injected, or swallowed. Meth often has alarming effects that include twitching and jerking; aggressive behavior; increased muscle tension and grinding of teeth; impaired speech; dry, itchy skin; and more. Meth users are often easy to spot – they tend to have poor hygiene, are thin, have bags under their eyes, and act jittery or paranoid. Additional adverse consequences of methamphetamine use include the risk of stroke, dangerously high body temperature, and cardiac arrhythmia. Withdrawal from high doses often results in severe depression and paranoia.
Amphetamine is a synthetic (chemically made) narcotic that today is medically prescribed for minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) in children or narcolepsy and at one time was prescribed for weight loss, fatigue and depression. Methamphetamines are “look-alike” synthetic amphetamines that are a weaker substitute for the pharmaceutically controlled amphetamines and manufactured in many ways and forms. Weaker stimulants such as caffeine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine – substances found in legally sold over-the-counter products such as “Trim Fast” (diet pills), “No-Doz” (alert aids) or “Sudafed” (decongestant) – are illicitly manufactured to mimic real amphetamine effects. These illegal drugs used as a recreational stimulant range from pill forms such as “speed” and the club drug “Ecstasy” or “X” to the highly addictive toxic substances most associated today with the name methamphetamine – “crank” and “ice.” These forms are made with such readily available products such as battery acid, ke
