Urban Meth Use on the Rise

Fox News ^ | Jan 28 2005 | AP

[pickemuphere]

CHICAGO — Already known as a rural scourge, methamphetamine is becoming a problem in a number of U.S. cities. Meetings of the 12-step group Crystal Meth Anonymous have increased in Chicago from one night a week a few years ago to five a week.

In the Atlanta area, methamphetamine users account for the fastest-growing segment of addicts seeking treatment. Rehabilitation centers there are seeing an uptick in the number of women meth addicts, while officials in Minneapolis-St. Paul say they're treating an alarming number of meth users younger than 18.

"Most people just think it happens in the farmlands and the prairies or out back behind the barn," says Carol Falkowski, director of research communications at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. But that's not the case anymore.

Falkowski found that meth addicts now represent about 10 percent of patients admitted to drug treatment programs in the Twin Cities, compared with 7.5 percent a year ago and about 3 percent in 1998. About a fifth of those meth users who sought help in the last year were minors.

[pickemuphere]

Meth has it all: it's addictive, cheap, and easy to produce.

[mlbford2]

``12-step group Crystal Meth Anonymous``

Boy, I bet that's a motley crew.

[2banana]

Experts say the drug started to catch on in urban areas in the club and rave scenes and sometimes among particular populations, such as gay men. That's been the case in such cities as Washington, D.C., and Chicago, says Thomas Lyons, a research associate with the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Often, he says, meth use has been associated with increases in sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

I can hear it now. It is Bush's fault. If only he had fully funded x. The CIA planted it. Our behavior and choices had nothing to do with it...

[cinives]

Sure - and it's doled out to kids in schools for ADHD, where they pick up the habit of substance abuse. I wonder if anyone's ever done a study on this ?

[Lazamataz]

Meth is even more ravaging to a person than cocaine, and cocaine ain't no picnic.

Meth causes permanent brain changes (as does cocaine, but to a much more profound level). Dopamine emitters are permanently destroyed, making a person more susceptible to Parkinsons Disease and causing lifelong depression, which of course is treatable with SSRI's.

[Lazamataz]

Sure - and it's doled out to kids in schools for ADHD

Ritalin, Adderol, and Stratera are so far removed from Methamphetamines that it's not even funny. They have some of the same chemical bases, but the effects are worlds apart.

Think: Novocaine vs. Cocaine.

[Lazamataz]

Boy, I bet that's a motley crew.

The first time I went to an Atlanta Narcotics Anonymous meeting, I was scared sh*tless. In a row, sitting in front of me, was a long-hair hippy type, a business-suited salesman, a leather-and-studs tough "Kill You Happily And Spit Out Teeth" biker type, a 16 year old sweet little girl, and an elderly lady doing crochet.

I nearly ran out of the room.

[mlbford2]

Wow, talk about falling into the rabbit hole. (Alice in Wonderland)

[Lazamataz]

Addiction doesn't discriminate!

[cinives]

You forgot two - dexedrine and desoxyn. Both are still prescribed for ADHD.

[CFW]

Click here for some pictures of what it can do for you.

Ten years of Meth

[LowOiL]

Meth is really hot around this area (not urban), pictures in the local paper almost always have some very bad teeth people being arrested.

If you want to be rich, don't bother making meth ect... peddle the ingredients in mass. You can make a fortune owning a wholesale distribution business and selling on the side.

BTW.. our local wholesale person is due in court next month. He had to sell his new Cadillac to pay a lawyer.

[Lazamataz]

Not nearly as much since Ritalin and Adderol came on the scene. Besides, even dexedrine and desoxyn aren't meth.

[WhiteGuy]

Urban Methane?

Farting on the bus?

What are they talking about?

Maybe I should actually read the article.............

[Disambiguator]

One of those women looked like she was turning into Gollum.

[newbolt]

I am aware of situations where Ritalin and other ADHD drugs are abused. The pills are crushed and snorted by the abuser to get a meth like high. It is usually the parents who are taking the drugs prescribed for their kids.

[Lazamataz]

I am aware of situations where Ritalin and other ADHD drugs are abused. The pills are crushed and snorted by the abuser to get a meth like high.

Almost anything can be abused. So there's no real new point to be made, there.

[Nov3]

Besides, even dexedrine and desoxyn aren't meth.

Go ahead and boot some desoxyn and talk to me about the difference later. Adderal is a pretty damn good amphetamine but it won't do the crank/desoxyn trick.

[Lazamataz]

Go ahead and boot some desoxyn and talk to me about the difference later. Adderal is a pretty damn good amphetamine but it won't do the crank/desoxyn trick.

Meth is quite different, perhaps because it's primary method of ingestion is being smoked (Ice). I know speed freaks who were pill people, and they don't even SLIGHTLY compare to the meth (smoker) crowd.

Even in my worst cocaine addiction I still knew better than to EVER do meth. That stuff simply crumples you up and throws you away.

[TKDietz]

Desoxyn is meth.

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic2/methamphetamine.htm