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Crystal Meth and Methamphetamine. www.drugfreeworld.org. What is Crystal Meth?. One form of the drug Methamphetamine White crystalline drug taken in many forms: Snorted, smoked, injected, and orally Creates a false sense of happiness and well being
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Crystal Meth and Methamphetamine www.drugfreeworld.org
What is Crystal Meth? • One form of the drug Methamphetamine • White crystalline drug taken in many forms: • Snorted, smoked, injected, and orally • Creates a false sense of happiness and well being • Effects generally last 6 to 8 hours but can last up to 24 hours • First experience might involve pleasure but it begins to destroy their life • Most commonly used as a “club drug”
What is Methamphetamine? • In the same class as cocaine and other powerful street drugs • Most commonly known as Speed • First acts like a stimulant and then begins to systematically destroy the body • Associated with serious health conditions • memory loss • Aggression • psychotic behavior • potential heart and brain damage
Burns up all the body’s resources • Creates a dependence than can only be relieved by taking more of the drug • One of the hardest drugs addictions to treat
What does Methamphetamine look like? • Crystalline white powder that is • Odorless • Bitter-tasting • Dissolves easily in water or alcohol • Colors • Brown • Yellow-gray • Orange • Pink • Can be compressed into a pill • Crystal meth resembles ice – clear and chunky • smoked
Street Names Methamphetamine Crystal Meth • Brown • Crank • Speed • Redneck Cocaine • Crink • Crypto • Tweak • Blade • Crystal • Crystal Glass • Hot Ice • Glass • Ice • Quartz
What is meth made from? • Synthetic chemical – man made • Commonly manufactured in illegal, hidden laboratories, mixing various forms of amphetamine or derivatives with other chemicals to boost its potency • Common cold pills are usually used as a base for the drug • The meth “cook” extracts the ingredients from the pills and combines it with battery acid, drain cleaner, lantern fuel, and antifreeze
The chemicals used are potentially explosive • The meth cooks are usually drug users themselves and are disoriented • Often end up severely burned, disfigured, or killed • The laboratories create a lot of toxic waste • 1lb of methamphetamine produces 5lbs of waste • People exposed to the waste become sick themselves
Deadly Effects of Meth • Negative effects: • Disturbed sleep patterns • Hyperactivity • Nausea • Delusions of power • Increased aggressiveness • irritability
Long range damage • Increased heart rate and blood pressure • Damaged blood vessels in the brain • Irregular heart beat than can cause cardiovascular collapse or death • Liver, kidney, and lung damage • Malnutrition • Tooth decay
How methamphetamine affects people’s lives • Low-Intensity Meth Abuse • Swallow or snort • Want the extra stimulation it provides so they can stay awake long enough to finish a task or job • Binge Meth Abuse • Smoke or needle injection • Receives more intense dose and experience a stronger rush
High-Intensity Meth Abuse • “Speed Freaks” • Whole existence focuses on preventing the crash • Take more and more of the drug • The meth high is less than the one before which causes them to become addicted and wanting more each time
The Stages of the Meth Experience • The Rush • Initial response the abuser feels when smoking or injecting • The High • “The Shoulder” – feels aggressively smarter and become argumentative, interrupting people and finishing sentences • The Binge • Abuser’s urge to maintain the high by smoking or injecting more and more of the drug to feel the rush and high until there is none anymore
Tweaking • Reached at the end of a drug binge when methamphetamine no longer provides the rush or high • Abuser loses his sense of identity • Intense itching, believes drugs are crawling under skin, unable to sleep for days at a time, hallucinations are so vivid they seem real • Potential for self-mutilation is high
Crash • Body shuts down and is unable to cope with the drug effects causing them to become lifeless • Can last 1-3 days • Meth Hangover • Returns to a disorientated state • Starved • Dehydrated • Utterly exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally • Lasts 2 – 14 days • Withdrawal • Often 30-90 days pass before they realize they are in withdrawal • Most revert back to abusing after receiving treatment