Talk Today
01/21/2005 - Updated 07:34 PM ET

Crystal methamphetamine: John Avery

Wednesday, July 30, 10 a.m. ET

Methamphetamine, which just a few years ago was found mostly in few western states and produced in rural drug labs, now is whipping across America. For the first time, police in the South and along the East Coast are busting up significant numbers of home labs, where meth "cooks" use ingredients from local pharmacies and recipes from the Internet to make batches of the highly addictive stimulant. In 1995, law enforcement officials shut down just one lab in Alabama. Last year, they shut down 197. Missouri officials closed 652 labs in 2002, up from 29 seven years ago. Chat about the impact of crystal methamphetamine with John Avery, director of public policy for the National Association for Addiction Professionals.

Missed the chat? Read the transcript below:

Culver City, CA: Whats the difference between meth and cocain (besides the fact that they are two entirely different chemicals). Would you consider one more addictive than the other? Do they both have the same side effects? Are the long term health issues the same?

John Avery: Cocaine is a naturally occuring product from the coca leaf, which goes through a process of refinement and washing. Meth is a purely chemically manufactured drug. The coke high is relatively short. If it's snorted, the effect is slightly slower than injection or smoking, which is why crack became so popular (the intense and immediate high). But it doesn't last long, and the crash was a downside. Crystal is much longer acting, and it can be snorted smoked or injected. It's speed. It causes all the systems in the central nervous system to accelerate. It depletes the dopamine and seratonin that are needed for normal functioning. While you're on it, like coke, you feel euphoric. The downside is the depression.

Part of the downside of sustained use is paranoia and aggressiveness. Both meth and crack cocaine are associated with paranoia and aggressiveness on the downside.

Remember that the way the drug works is to generate excessive dopamine, so the brain can only produce so much at any given time, which is what creates the effect of constantly increasing the dosage. You have to keep using more to get less high, which makes them frustrated. With natural brain chemicals depleted, you find the irritability and paranoia. Plus digestion, circulation, muscular movement don't work right.

Alexandria, VA: Isn't it dangerous to manufacture these drugs in the home?

John Avery: The dangers of the drug labs is explosions. You're mixing combustible chemicals, and you're manufacturing the drug in a makeshift environment. If you don't know what you're doing you can cause an explosion.

Washington DC: Is this drug more addictive than other drugs? Is it more dangerous? If so, why?

John Avery: No. The reason I say that is because of the word "addictive". This is a HIGHLY addictive drug, because of the sustained euphoria it creates. If you like feeling up and the drug ceases to work, you feel depression, and you crave the drug. Crack, heroin and alcohol are also highly addictive. Some have more withdrawal syndromes than others.

Arlington, VA: Are there any special challenges to treating someone with an addiction to this drug? What's different about this type of addiction?

John Avery: The early parts of treatment are somewhat similar. You have to withdraw the patient from the chemicals, then provide a stable environment for recovery. The brain has been worked over, and it needs time to heal. It takes almost 90 days to restore brain functioning to its previous level. Crystal is often used in conjuction with other things. To take the edge off, it's common for people to drink or do heroin or take Valium. So treatment is necessary for multiple drugs.

The next part of the treatment is teaching a person to live without chemicals, which is the core psychological component of treatment. The great part of the rehabilitation is learning how to function normally in society. At that point a whole range of problems can come in. Why, for example, does someone use a drug that's euphoric as opposed to taking a "down" drug? And there's a culture that goes with each drug. The clinician has to be sensitive to the culture in which the drug is used.

Newark, NJ: What does crystal do to the brain? Is this the same drug as "Ice"?

John Avery: You can just burn out. You deplete the brain to the point where it can't regenerate itself. There's also physical deterioration. There's a Parkinson's disease-like movement disorder. Remember that you're also at risk for stroke, malnutrition, heart attack. It's also associated with very unsafe sexual activity.

east lansing, MI: for how long does meth remain in your system after a period of consistent use (everyday, at least three times a day)?

John Avery: Compared to cocaine it's much longer acting. One can do crystal and stay up for 24 hours or so, which you can't do with one dose of cocaine.

New York, NY: This drug is hardly "new", so why the sudden proliferation of labs and the resurgence in popularity?

John Avery: The drug has been around for a while. It started off in California and has spread east, and has finally made inroads here. Because it's easily manufactured in household laboratories, it can be easily distributed through gang networks. It's a much bigger problem out West than here in the East. If you're thinking from a purely marketing standpoint, it would fill a need where there isn't cocaine available. The various distribution networks have targeted rural, less obvious places.

The Nation's Homepage
