Download PDF | More Alcohol and Drug Resources
On this page: |
Methamphetamine (MA) is an illegal synthetic drug that affects the central nervous system. One of a number of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), MA is similar in function to caffeine and cocaine. It's often confused with another popular drug, ecstasy, which is chemically similar to MA but not classified as a stimulant. All stimulants increase or enhance the activity of dopamine, noradrenalin, and serotonin in the brain.
MA is produced and sold in many forms: powder, crystalline chunks, pills, or capsules. In powdered, pill, or capsule form, MA is commonly called speed, meth, or chalk. It can be snorted, swallowed, or inserted (vaginally or rectally).
The crystal form of MA is commonly referred to as crystal meth, ice, shards, or glass. It can be smoked in a cigarette, pipe, or bong. Because it dissolves easily in water or alcohol, MA can also be injected.
Whatever the form, MA is odourless and bitter-tasting. The oily, sticky base or paste from which it is made can have a yellow-brown tinge. MA powder is either white, pink, or yellow. MA chunks are usually white (or off-white) and translucent.
How is methamphetamine made?
MA is made in either large laboratories, or in small makeshift operations located in residences, hotel rooms, storage facilities, vacant buildings, and even vehicles. There are various methods of making the substance, using either pure chemicals, or chemicals derived from other substances, such as drain cleaner, battery acid, and antifreeze. Some of the key ingredients include ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, red phosphorus, and iodine.
How does methamphetamine affect a person?
When smoked or injected, users experience an intensely pleasurable rush within 5 to10 seconds. If inhaled, ingested or inserted, the effect is a pleasurable high with a slower onset ranging from 3 to 20 minutes. The rush or high initiates a prolonged euphoria which can last from 4 to12 hours, and sometimes even as long as 36 hours.
The euphoria is an elevation of mood, a sense of well-being, intellectual expansiveness, increased selfconfidence, and heightened libido. This is combined with an increase in energy and wakefulness, a reduction in appetite and fatigue, and increased concentration and alertness. There can also be improvement in physical performance and in simple cognitive tasks.
The negative side of using MA is related to the prolonged state of agitation that coincides with these benefits. This period of agitation can be marked by restlessness, athetosis (writhing, jerky, or flailing movements), and tremors. Some users experience insomnia, dizziness, and impaired speech. Long-term users often lose interest in their hygiene and develop skin problems and "meth mouth," a deterioration of the teeth, among a host of other side effects.
Why do people use methamphetamine?
Some people try methamphetamine because they've heard about the drug and are curious about its effects. Others use the drug because it's easily accessible and cheaper than other stimulants such as cocaine. In the short term, the pleasurable effects and benefits of using MA make it highly appealing.
Specific effects attract various subgroups of people. Increased alertness and wakefulness and reduction in fatigue, enhanced performance, and/or the need to alleviate boredom and tediousness make MA attractive to students, sex-trade workers, truck drivers, blue-collar and night-shift workers, professionals, waiters, athletes, and even stay-at-home moms.
Youths seek out the increased self-confidence and enhanced social skills, particularly in party or rave scenarios. Teenaged girls seek to control their weight via the appetite-suppressing properties of MA. Street and runaway youth without access to food and shelter benefit from the reduction in appetite and fatigue, in part because wakefulness allows them to protect themselves from theft and physical harm.
Gay and bisexual men are drawn to the libido-enhancing effects of MA, as well as the release of inhibition, delayed ejaculation, and heightened sexual climax that can occur.
A significant minority of users with asthma or hyperactivity can experience a calming or centering effect on their mood and behaviour. Survivors of trauma report that they can more successfully detach from daily experiences of pain and struggle.
When is using methamphetamine a problem?
Whenever a person's MA use negatively affects their life, or the lives of others, they have a problem with the drug.
Because of the pleasurable effects of MA, tolerance to the drug can develop quickly. As a result, a user's brain tries to rebalance itself and limit the impact of the substance. As a consequence, the user requires greater amounts of the drug to feel its effects, or even to feel normal. This can result in dependence. Abstinence triggers withdrawal symptoms, and using relieves them. To avoid unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, a person may continue using an everincreasing amount of the drug to be able to dodge discomfort.
MA use is particularly problematic when it involves:
Mixing substances. MA is often used in combination with other substances such as alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine. When substances are mixed, the effects of the drugs may be modified. In some cases, the mix can be dangerous. For example, MA can negatively impact the effectiveness of HIV medication.
Masking mental illness. People who have severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia) are at greatest risk of having a co-occurrence of substance use problems. MA can hide or worsen a user's mental disorder.
Using needles. Injecting MA increases a person's risk of dependence on the substance. The sharing of needles increases a user's chances of becoming infected by bloodborne diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis B and C.
Engaging in high-risk sexual behaviour. MA users tend to engage in risky sexual behaviour. Binge users who take excessive amounts of MA over a limited time (e.g., one evening, or perhaps even an entire day or two) are even more likely to take sexual risks. As a result, MA users—gay or straight—have higher STD rates than other groups.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding. MA can cause an increase in maternal and fetal blood pressure, and a decrease in uterine blood flow. Babies exposed to MA tend to have a lower body weight at birth, as well as a smaller head circumference. MA is also linked to stillbirths and hemorrhaging.
Careless production practices. MA is often produced by people who lack the knowledge and skills required for safe manufacture. As a result, byproducts and contaminants can remain in the synthesized substance, which explains why there are significant variations in purity, quality, and safety in products sold as "methamphetamine."
Four levels of methamphetamine use
recreational (occasional, with a social focus)
instrumental (work/ performance focus)
intermittent bingeing (bingeing and crashing as a pattern, with breaks in between the binges)
chronic use (daily, with no breaks, and often marked by a switch from snorting or swallowing to smoking or injecting)
Some symptoms of longer-term methamphetamine use
schizophrenia-like behaviour
auditory and visual hallucinations
repetitive behaviour patterns (e.g., picking at skin, pulling at hair)
formication (delusions of parasites or insects on the skin)
paranoid delusions leading to sudden aggressive behaviour
psychosis resulting in homicidal or suicidal thoughts
The cruel irony of using methamphetamine
After prolonged use of MA—especially at higher doses and with greater frequency—the benefits of the drug are reversed.
Euphoria and confidence are replaced by chronic debilitating depression.
Social connection and the feeling of well-being are edged out by irritability, isolation, paranoia, and anger.
Enhanced school or work performance is replaced by memory loss, concentration problems, and a short attention span.
Increased energy and wakefulness becomes fatigue.
A reduced appetite becomes a greatly increased appetite.
Sexual enhancement is replaced by sexual dysfunction.
How common is MA use in BC?
While we don't know exactly how many people use MA in British Columbia, there is reason to believe use of the drug is on the rise (e.g., increases in hospital admissions, MA-related deaths, clandestine lab seizures, and legal imports of pseudoephedrine).
Studies also suggest MA is frequently used by young people—particularly youth at risk—and the gay population:
Between 3% and 9% of public students have used MA. A small study of Vancouver and Victoria high schools showed elevated risk of use among gay or bisexual students.
A 2003 survey showed that 70% of street-involved youth in Victoria and Vancouver have used crystal meth. (A 2000 Vancouver-based study found that 71% of this same group had tried ATS, and 57% had used them more than 10 times.)
More than 70% of all admissions in one youth detox centre in Victoria are now for crystal meth, with 16 years old being the average age of admission.
Young injecting drug users are especially likely to be using MA. Use of the drug is associated with higher numbers of HIV risk behaviours, emergency department visits, and overdoses.
A 2004 study revealed that 25.4% of gay men in BC have used MA.
Copyright © 2006 – Centre for Addictions Research of BC, University of Victoria. Permission to copy granted. Production of this document has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.
