A Powerful Addiction

Methamphetamine or “meth” is a highly addictive drug that causes great harm to users, their families and their communities. Meth is a stimulant that increases activity in the pleasure centers of the brain. While it has some legitimate medical uses and can be prescribed by a physician, most meth is used illegally. Without the supervision of a medical professional, meth can be extremely addictive.

Initial use of the drug is frequently described as euphoric and highly pleasurable. However, an occasional meth user can quickly become an addict, and some addicts report that they became addicted with their first use of the drug. Treatment for meth addiction is a long-term process.

Meth, which has many street names including “crank” and “ice”, can be smoked, snorted, eaten or injected. In contrast to a cocaine “high” which wears off in less than an hour, meth’s effects are long-lasting, typically 10 to 12 hours.

Meth use has devastating effects on an addict’s mind and body. The drug scrambles the user’s brain chemistry and raises their blood pressure, placing extraordinary strain on the user’s body. Ingestion of a single dose of methamphetamine can cause a heart attack or a stroke.

Meth increases activity in the brain’s pleasure centers, but the addiction is far from pleasurable. The compulsive need to acquire and use meth becomes the focus of the addict’s life. It becomes more important than the user’s family, job, or personal well-being. Addicts often commit crimes to get meth. To satisfy their cravings for the drug, some addicts manufacture it themselves in dangerous homemade meth labs.

Addicts use the drug for days or even weeks at a time without sleep. Throughout these “binges,” users feel nervous, excited, irritable, aggressive, and extremely paranoid. Ultimately the addict falls into an exhausted sleep that can also last for days. When the addict awakens, the cycle resumes.

Long-term meth use causes severe side effects. Addicts hallucinate, engage in repetitive behaviors, and experience delusions such as feeling insects on their skin. Meth addicts also suffer from malnutrition, loss of bone mass, and "meth mouth".