Meth: That's some horrible shit.

[MrScorpio]

[SeattleGirl]

1. Nasty, nasty shit, for sure.

God, just shoot me if I ever went there.

And no, I never would.

[Xenotime]

44. Some actually look better.

[KonaKane]

52. Check out the guy second from the top left. His hairline re-grew!

That might make meth more popular for balding men.

[liquid diamond]

65. Off topic, but I like your sig.

[KonaKane]

67. Thanks. I just changed it, but I appreciate the sentiment.

[Raine]

2. OH Gawd

nough said. :yoiks:

[Swamp Rat]

3. The worst damage is not visible

Meth destroys the brain overall, including personality, which is located in the the prefrontal cortex (I believe).





It destroys the teeth too ("meth mouth")

[Mopar151]

4. The crazy thing is

The more that you enjoy being in control, with the program, bright eyed and bushy tailed (i.e., the oppisite of alcahol), the more meth can get a hold on you. Of course, this effect is magnafied and twisted by alcahol.

I'd like to see the graphic above after the image distortion (wide angle lens?) is cleaned up. Crank does a lot of things, but I don't think it makes skulls wider....

[Hannah Bell]

9. i noticed that too. i'm thinking, why does meth cause square-face?

[Touchdown]

45. The before pics are the ones that are distorted.

Or it must be true that people with bananaheads are attracted to meth.:rofl:

[Maru Kitteh]

46. That's too many to be a coincidence, I thnk, and notice how more pronounced the effect

is upon the females.

I'm not an endocrinologist, but the pictures suggest to me that meth interferes with some kinds of hormone regulation, namely growth hormones and/or androgens like insulin, HGH and testosterone.

Similar effects (but without the classic wasting away of a meth addict) are seen in acromegaly. I'm not saying the exact same effects, but certainly similar.

[mahina]

5. It sucks up a ton of money from state budgets

particularly diverting dollars to dental care for prisoners.

Lousy deal.

[Iterate]

6. Worst of all is what it does to families, communities

My cousin lived in Wasilla, AK from all through the rise of the Palin regime and saw its transition to the local meth hot-spot. I've seem it in other small towns myself with the same pattern.

It's a good thing we used all of that tobacco tax money for addiction research and treatment. Decriminalizing pot and refocusing law enforcement towards the few truly dangerous drugs saved a ton of money and a lot of lives. And crime that supports addiction has fallen off the charts.

Oh yea, we didn't do that. Now I remember. Blew it all on two wars and a few big tax cuts. No wonder our teeth are rotten.

[Enthusiast]

7. Rotten teeth serve a valuable

purpose. It allows us to know the 'lesser' people. You know, so we know how to treat them, or not treat them, as the case may be. :sarcasm:

[Iterate]

11. Sure, I think I saw that in the "Make Your Town a Meth Capitol" playbook.

Let's see, skimming through it, "remove science from the schools"..."not chemistry but willpower"..."it's their own fault"..."not enough God"(getting closer)..."perpetual sinners"...and bingo! "know the 'lesser' people". Nice side-bar on that page about "Mark of the Devil"

Why don't faith-healers ever cure bad teeth? What? no dentists in faith-healer school?

[BanzaiBonnie]

8. And you haven't really had fun until...

You've been stalked by a meth addict. We were stalked by one because we got our daughter away from him.

He came around every night and some days. One time, our neighbor saw him running through the woods with a bowie knife in hand and called us to ask what was going on. The addict poisoned our dog. The dog had been our alert system. I took to carrying a firearm with me everywhere in the house.

The stalking went on for weeks before the sheriff finally caught the guy. When they did get him, he had enlisted help in "hunting turkeys". The two of them were packing a walkie talkie system, as well as various guns and knives.

[Enthusiast]

13. That is frightening. nt

[Stargazer09]

16. That's awful!

I'm sorry to hear about your dog, and I hope that guy went to prison for a good long time.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. It was legal for decades without causing a major problem.

Why is that?

[Robb]

38. It wasn't cheap yet.

[Warren Stupidity]

47. No it was cheap and legal and widely used.

[Robb]

54. Not the same dosages /nt

[reggie the dog]

57. its not dosages that have changed

it is the other shit in the meth they are using, the impurities that are in it because it is made illegally with no quality control.

[Robb]

58. It's both, actually.

Rec users take in a couple orders of magnitude more drug than pharmacological. Look it up.

Not denying the horrible chemicals involved in making it, though. I used to drive ambulances in rural CO.

[pkz]

12. every lil town in SW West Virginia

is full of people that look like that.
Generations are hooked on it, grandkids getting busted with the grandparents.
So sad.

[reggie the dog]

59. I may be biased

but if i had to choose between homebrew meth and good outdoor grown west virgina weed i would go with the weed any day.

[madokie]

14. Every time I see pictures of these methheads

or are reminded they exist in the real world I thank my lucky stars that I didn't like the stuff. I have, or should say had several friends who turned to meth who are dead now. I tried it a couple times but I never liked the high and didn't like the way it made me think and damn sure didn't like the way it made me feel for days afterwards. Yes I thank my lucky stars that I didn't like meth. Due to the fact that pot is illegal it caused me to have to spend some time with the methheads in the procuring of the drug of my choice. Been a non-pot smoker now for going on 5 weeks, maybe its 6, I can't remember exactly. All I know is I have a spot on one of my lungs that the doc is watching closely and if my breathing gets better with the treatments I'm doing now they will be wedging, (his term not mine,) it out of there.

[Fumesucker]

15. It's funny, I feel the same way about alcohol when I see acquaintances dying of liver disease..

Glad I never liked it.

I don't know anyone that's died from meth use and I can easily think of half a dozen people I've known that have died due to the physical effects of excessive drinking and I've lost count of the number of people who have died due to drinking and driving.

And yet what gets the attention? Even here on DU the pro-drug war propaganda keeps flying.

Which is why when I say the drug war will never end no one comes back and tells me I'm wrong.

[crikkett]

63. I'm so sorry about your lungs.

May you heal quickly.

[madokie]

78. Thank you

I guess I should have quit smoking the weed back when I quit smoking tobacco

[Mojorabbit]

70. It was popular

twenty five or thirty years ago. I knew lots of kids that did it off and on and I don't remember anyone getting addicted to it back in the day. I am wondering if it is the same stuff, used to be called crystal meth.

[lfairban]

72. Yep.

Same shit, different century.

I knew a guy that said he would drop a gram of crystal in a shot and drink it. He was actually pretty normal.

The drug itself is not that bad for you, it just imitates a naturally occurring substance. Staying awake for a week and running around non-stop can't be good for you. If you don't get some rest sometime, you will definitely have some problems.

[YOY]

17. What crack did(and still does) to the African American community...Meth does to rural whites.

When there's no work and no hope...there's addiction.

[hedgehog]

29. What we have now is a real chicken and egg situation - which came first -

the hopelessness or the drugs? Toss in life style and you have a real quandary. Do the kids drop out of school because they aren't learning, or are they not learning because they skipped too much school in early grades?

[YOY]

36. or do the "failures" in life just breed faster than everyone else?

Yeah...I don't necessarily think that way but I've asked the question myself.

Sad all over...

[Brickbat]

18. Those faces make me so sad.

A face without hope makes my stomach hurt.

[Upton]

19. Today's lesson from DARE?

How nice. Those pictures are extremes..I suppose you'd rather be addicted to the very legal alcohol?

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. They're actually pretty realistic

I've known more people than I care to remember who got hooked on meth. They are literally unrecognizable within a few months.

[Upton]

23. Not really..

I've known people who do meth too. In fact there are tons of very functional meth users that look just like you or me. I repeat, those pictures are extremes..no different than showing a drunk under a bridge as an example of your average drinker.

[Arkansas Granny]

26. I've known people who do meth, too. For every one I know who is

still functional, I know many more who are not. Those who are still functional only use meth occasionally. Those who use it regularly become marginally functional or completely disfunctional over time and start looking just like the people in those pictures. Many of those who used occasionally became regular users in the course of time and were no longer highly functional.

This is purely personal observation with no facts or data to back it up, but I've seen meth ruin more lives than any other drug I've had knowledge of. It not only the user, but also their families and friends. I've had many good friends get hooked on this stuff. For those who beat it, it was a long hard struggle.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. They look like the meth users I know

The ones who are still alive.

[arcadian]

31. I have to agree

The before pictures on those aren't really all that flattering either. Clearly both pics are police mug shots. I think you are right, it's shock value PR stuff.

[Robb]

40. "Functional meth users?"

Apparently you haven't known them for very long. Sort of like "functional people who are on fire."

[reggie the dog]

60. not at all, most meth users i know use it very rarely

they may use it if they go to a rave party but it is no more than a couple days a month, i have know many people who pop meth pills and go to raves here in France and most dont do it during the week or every weekend.

[geek tragedy]

61. It's not the same kind of meth.

The little pills are not as nasty or destructive as the stuff people smoke or inject.

[hedgehog]

32. Comparing alcohol abuse and meth is like comparing dying of lung

cancer or dying of colon cancer. Neither one is pretty.

[donco6]

20. We have so many parents on it.

They're knocking over a meth lab in my district about 3 times a year. Lots of kids are affected by it. We don't have nearly enough mental health support to work with them. Not even close.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Same here

As long as the economy sucks it will only get worse.

[donco6]

25. One thing I've noticed - they are NEEDY people.

They'll call to complain about something that happened, and just talk and talk and talk in circles forever. I spend more time with them than any other type of parent.

And then there's the inevitable marriage breakup, so we have to deal with that (custody, who can pick up the kid, what happens if dad shows up at school? etc. etc. etc.)

You're right, it's getting worse.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Their kids come to school smelling like a cat litter box

They also tend to be very transient.

[Odin2005]

24. I really can't believe people use that shit.

Then again, I take Ritalin, which is chemically and pharmacologically similar, so I shouldn't be talking...

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. I've taken both

The high is not that similar. Meth is much more intense. It's a nasty drug. I am in favor of ending the drug war on pot. But not on meth.

[hedgehog]

35. Check your dosages against what meth users are taking.

I checked one time and came up with figures of about 1,000 to 1 , IIRC. That is, the meth users were supposedly taking 1,000 times the medically approved dose of amphetamine.

[Poll_Blind]

39. Interesting point!

PB

[Odin2005]

49. Wow!

[lfairban]

73. What are the numbers?

IIRC, the therapeutic dose is 10-20mg. 1,000 times that would be 10 grams, that is a quarter ounce and a half. Do any of them do an ounce a day?

[asdjrocky]

28. Yup.

But not as horrible as the drug policies pursued by our nation that leads to this kind of thing.

[Radical Activist]

34. Dumb drug. Stick to pot. n/t

[rollin74]

37. absolutely horrible drug

I have seen it quickly destroy lives like nothing else can.

[AnArmyVeteran]

41. Horrendous! It deforms their faces even in just a few months.

[Enrique]

42. where's Ted Haggard

[slackmaster]

43. K&R - I tried to help a meth head last summer

It turned out badly.

[Robb]

56. Been there.

It usually does. :(

[Heddi]

48. I see faces like these in the ER every night

I can tell...down here in FL the biggie drugs to do are the "legal" pain meds--oxy, roxy, methadone, xanax...had a girl the other night that took 68 klonopin over 4 days...really? 68 in 4 days?

Meth was much bigger when I worked in Seattle, but we still see Meth here a bunch, mixing meth with roxy or oxy and shooting both of them up at the same time---bad combo.

You can tell by their teeth....not just rotten teeth, not just bad dentation...it's a different kind of rot than someone who "just" has no dental care, or "just" never took care of their teeth properly. It's a different rot because it happens quickly as opposed to over a lifetime of bad dental hygeine.

And the scabs...one of the ingredients in the meth (I think it's aluminum but not for certain) forms irritating particulate matter under the skin and that's what causes the skin picking....and it's all over them not just the face. Arms legs chest are one big scab.

And someone upthread said that they are needy and just talk and talk and talk---in the ER I can never get what, exactly, they came to the ER for. "Well in 1974 my brother was in a car accident and that's who I named my son after, and see a few years ago we were fighting and he bent my arm back and he was arrested for that and now he lives with his daddy in Ocala and some guy stole my car..." Okay ma'am, why are you here now? What did you come to the ER for? What is your medical emergency? "Well, this guy I was dating stole my car and you know I never should have trusted him but he said that the girl wasn't his exwife but I knew she was, and he said he was just going to the store to buy some smokes and then he never came back and he took my smokes. Look, you look like a nice lady and maybe you can help me with this because I tried to figure it out. NOw, do you need internet to go online? I've asked around and I just get a bunch of answers. I want to go online and I have a computer but I don't know how to get internet, and no one can tell me straight they tell me to call the internet people but really I don't have a phone and I don't want to go through all of that..." (pretty much verbatim convo I had with a meth-user the other night in the ER. For 2 hours we tried to figure out why she came to the emergency room. She could never tell us why she was there...)

[lfairban]

75. It doesn't exactly have ingredients.

And the scabs...one of the ingredients in the meth (I think it's aluminum but not for certain)

It is not a mixture, it has not components, it is just a chemical. Meth is Methamphetamine also known as N-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-2-amine. There is no aluminum in it, just carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms. If there is aluminum in whatever they were using, it would have been a contaminant.

[Frank Cannon]

79. There are a lot of contaminants in homebrewed meth

The manufacturing process involves a host of nasty chemicals and isn't exactly FDA approved.

[lfairban]

82. Edit to add, . . .

. . . "and a nitrogen."

I shouldn't try to do chemistry that late at night.

[KonaKane]

50. It's probably our greatest problem here on the islands.

Although from latest statistics we're beginning to take a bite out of it. Still, we have a long ways to go.

[reggie the dog]

51. shitty homebrew meth

speed in pills made in labs does not do this. Bags under eyes yes, but not the rest. That is what you get through prohibiton.

[MrScorpio]

53. I don't know if prohibition, per se, is totally to blame here

Only because a lot of people will do just about anything to get high.

Even shit that's not prohibited.

Not equating meth with anything else, other than the fact that people will get high and find a way to do it, it's safe to say that this particular way has severe consequences.

[Taverner]

55. Agree 100% - absolutely no good comes out of the drug war

[lonestarnot]

62. Fuck'n nasty.

[donheld]

64. Not Even Once

http://www.methproject.org/

[jeffrey_X]

66. Now imagine it was crack and it was targeted at minorites

eom

[depakid]

74. They'd get double the sentence for half the damage

No need to imagine it- it's been the law of the land, brought to us- along with others on both sides of the aisle, by the Vice President.

[Kablooie]

68. I blame Walter White.

http://www.savewalterwhite.com/

[Initech]

69. You mean Heisenberg, right?

[lfairban]

76. I'm not certain.

n/t

[lfairban]

77. I'm not certain.

n/t

[Kablooie]

80. Oh ... ahem, yes ... Heisenberg.

[Mojorabbit]

71. A great song by that name

from the Tennessee pusher album by old crow medicine show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Bp-68W-2c

[cherish44]

81. I grew up in a small town that was known as a "pot" town

lots of pot smokers. Meh, there was a shortage of Fritos, Hostess cupcakes and Grateful Dead CDs but kids could ride their bikes around town without too many worries. Now that meth has invaded we have had a slew of home invasions, attempted kidnappings, arson, domestic batteries and other fun things. (and I'm nervous about letting my child ride her bike in town). I miss the days when we were just a sleepy little pot town.