Methamphetamine, also known as "speed," "crank," "crystal," or "ice," is a man-made drug that is a powerful central nervous system stimulant. It can be snorted, smoked, injected, or ingested by mouth. Technically, meth is a chemical modification of amphetamine and falls into a class of drugs commonly called uppers.

Methamphetamine was once produced almost exclusively by motor cycle gangs in California and used by a limited number of individuals in such jobs as long haul truck driving. However, it has now become one of the most significant drug abuse problems in the United States, especially in the west and mid-west.

Methamphetamine can easily be manufactured in clandestine laboratories using store bought materials and is the most prevalent synthetic drug manufactured in the United States. The ease of manufacturing methamphetamine and its highly addictive potential has caused the use of the drug to increase throughout the Nation.

The color and texture of meth can vary. It is usually white, slightly yellow, or even brown, depending on the purity. The drug is a bitter-tasting, crystal-like powdered substance that sometimes comes in large rock-like chunks. When the powder flakes off the rock, the shards look like glass, which is another nickname for meth. It is often sold in tiny, sealable plastic bags.

Another form of meth, in clear chunky crystals, is called crystal meth, or ice. Meth can also be in the form of small, brightly colored tablets. The pills are often called by their Thai name, yaba.

Street methamphetamine is commonly known as:

• Biker’s Coffee
• Chalk
• Chicken Feed
• Crank
• Cristy
• Croak
• Crypto
• Crystal
• Crystal Meth
• Dope
• Fire
• Glass
• Go-Fast
• Ice
• LA
• Meth
• Methlies Quick
• Poor Man’s Cocaine
• Quartz
• Shabu
• Speed
• Stove Top
• Trash
• Tweek
• Yellow Barn
• White Cross
• Zip
• Shit

Meth can cause serious short term and long term health consequences for the user including symptoms like Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s.

Methamphetamine is one of the most addictive drugs known. Addiction has been reported after a single use and it is destructive both physically and emotionally. Methamphetamine is an extremely powerful drug that stimulates the central nervous system and has great potential for physical and psychological abuse and dependency.

Methamphetamine releases high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which stimulates brain cells, enhancing mood and body movement. It also appears to have a neurotoxin effect, damaging brain cells that contain dopamine and serotonin, another neurotransmitter. Over time, methamphetamine appears to cause reduced levels of dopamine, which can result in symptoms like those of Parkinson’s disease, a severe movement disorder. Research shows that high doses of methamphetamine damage neuron cell-endings. Dopamine— and serotonin— containing neurons do not die after methamphetamine use, but their nerve endings are cut back and re-growth appears to be limited.

Immediately after smoking or injection, the user experiences an intense sensation, called a "rush" or "flash," that lasts only a fewminutes and is described as extremely pleasurable. Snorting or swallowing meth produces euphoria - a high, but not a rush. After the initial "rush," there is typically a state of highagitation that in some individuals can lead to violent behavior.

Short-term use results in increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, elevated temperature, wakefulness, nervousness, anxiety, and insomnia. Othershort-term effects of meth use include: increased attention, decreased appetite, decreased fatigue, increased activity, irritability/aggression. These effects can last 8 — 24 hours.

The most dangerous stage of methamphetamine abuse is when the drug use has produced psychosis ("tweaking"). A user who is tweaking has probably not slept in 3-15 days, and consequently will be extremely irritable and paranoid. A tweaker does not need provocation to behave or react violently, but confrontation increases the chances of violent reaction. If the tweaker is using alcohol, his negative feelings and associated dangers intensify.

If used for long periods of time, methamphetamine can produce dependence and addiction. Chronic use can cause paranoia, hallucinations, repetitive behavior (such as compulsively cleaning, grooming or disassembling and assembling objects), and delusions of parasites or insects crawling under the skin. Users can obsessively scratch their skin to get rid of these imagined insects.

Methamphetamine causes increased heart rate and blood pressure and can cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain, producing strokes. Other effects of methamphetamine include respiratory problems, irregular heartbeat, and extreme anorexia. Chronic, high-dose methamphetamine abusers are generally undernourished with a gaunt appearance, poor hygiene, and rotten teeth and suffer from extreme paranoia.

Long-term use, high dosages, or both can bring on full-blown toxic psychosis (often exhibited as violent, aggressive behavior). This violent, aggressive behavior is usually coupled with extreme paranoia. in the form of paranoia, hallucinations, mood disturbances, and repetitive motor activity), increased risk of convulsions, heart attacks, and weight loss. Meth can also cause cardiovascular collapse and death.

For pregnant women, meth use can cause premature labor, detachment of the placenta, and low birth weight babies with possible neurological damage. Intravenous users can suffer from AIDS, hepatitis, infections and sores at the injection site, and infection of the heart lining and valves.

Under the influence of the drug, users often become agitated and feel "wired." Their behavior becomes unpredictable. They may be friendly and calm one moment, angry and terrified the next. Some feel compelled to repeat meaningless tasks, such as taking apart and reassembling bits of machinery. Others may pick at imaginary bugs on their skin Hard-core methamphetamine addicts get very little sleep and they look like it.

Chronic users and "cooks"—those that manufacture the drug—may have open sores on their skin, bad teeth, and generally appear unclean. Habitual users may develop nervous twitching, lip biting, picking or tapping behaviors that they did not have before methamphetamine use. Paranoid and erratic behavior combined with regular late-night activity are potential indicators.

Click link for safety tips: Safety Tips for Approaching Someone High on Meth

Meth has been called a "double whammy" drug. When using methamphetamine, the user feels energetic and powerful, but a "crash" inevitably follows the "high". In order to avoid or counteract the crash, the user takes more meth. Tolerance develops rapidly, often leading to addiction in a relatively short time.

Click link for the cold, hard truth: I Am Meth

Meth is used in variety of age groups, lifestyles and neighborhoods. Users range from curious teens, college students attracted by the drug’s reputation for increasing energy and sexuality, truck drivers and shift workers who use the drug to keep alert for extended periods of time, and girls and women who view it as a way to lose weight.

According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 12.3 million Americans ages 12 and older reported trying methamphetamine at least once during their lifetimes, representing 5.2% of the population ages 12 and older.

The drug was traditionally associated with white, male, blue-collar workers, but it is now used by more diverse population groups including college students, young professionals, minorities and, increasingly, by women. Although meth is rarely prescribed by a physician, there are a few accepted medical reasons for its use, such as the treatment of narcolepsy, attention deficit disorder, and — for short-term use — obesity.

While some is smuggled from outside the U.S., most methamphetamine in Butte County is manufactured, or "cooked" in small, clandestine laboratories. These labs may be set up in homes, garages, storage units, apartments, motel rooms, even the trunk of a car.

Methamphetamine can be easily produced from a few over the counter and inexpensive ingredients. The main ingredient in Meth is ephedrine/pseudo ephedrine. This chemical is contained in many legal drugs, including bronchodilators like Vick’s Inhalant, decongestants like Nyquil Nighttime Cold Medication and Sudafed, diet pills, and therapeutic agents like Dioxin.

Methamphetamine production sites, generally unsophisticated operations, can be found in numerous local regions, in both urban and rural locations.

In addition to the clandestine laboratories in the United States, organized crime groups in Mexico appear responsible for increased methamphetamine production on both sides of the border during the 1990's.