Covenant House Vancouver

Crystal methamphetamine has become a hot topic in Vancouver . Much attention has been focused on crystal methamphetamine as a particularly harmful drug of choice. Its availability, low price, and perceived propensity for causing violent behaviour and psychotic symptoms have caused rising concern among local agencies. Recent coverage in the media has also brought awareness of these concerns to the general public.

What is crystal methamphetamine?

Crystal methamphetamine (also called crystal meth, crystal, jib, ice, shards, or speed) is a form of amphetamine. It is a powerful central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that affects dopamine, one of the essential neurotransmitters in the brain that influences mood.

What does crystal methamphetamine look like?

Meth is found in several different forms. It may appear as slightly transparent crystals, beige, white, or pink powder, or brownish granules. It is sold in paper flaps, plastic baggies, tablets, or capsules.

Powdered Crystal Meth

 How is crystal methamphetamine used?

Crystal can be smoked, snorted, injected, or eaten. Users usually begin feeling the effects within 3-5 seconds when smoked, and the initial high may last 8-16 hours.

What does the high feel like?

Initially, the user experiences intense feelings of euphoria. The user feels energized, alert, talkative, happy, confident, and powerful.

What are the symptoms of crystal methamphetamine use?

• Dilated pupils and rapid eye movements
• Clammy, flushed skin
• Increase in body metabolism, heart rate, and blood pressure
• Jitteriness, twitching, and muscle spasms (especially apparent in the face, jaw, and neck)
• Loss of interest in normal activities like eating, drinking, sex, and sleeping (a user on a run or binge can stay awake for up to a couple of weeks at a time)
• Compulsive and repetitive behaviour (e.g., picking at one's skin, overzealous cleaning or grooming behaviour, tooth grinding)
• Hyper alertness
• Mental confusion
• Inability to focus on one task
• Rapid speech
• Agitated, anxious, irritable, hostile, aggressive, or even violent behaviour
• Cracked lips
• Skin rashes or sores from scratching and itching
• Extreme weight loss (during a meth run, the user will not eat or sleep for several days)

What are the potential long-term effects of using crystal methamphetamine?

• Structural changes to the brain and memory loss
• Blurred vision and dizziness
• Difficulty completing complex tasks
• Movement disorders and loss of coordination
• Slowed reaction times to stimuli
• Mental confusion, hallucinations, delusions, and feelings of paranoia
• Drug-induced psychosis
• Brain toxicity, kidney, liver and lung failure, and heart disease

What is drug-induced psychosis?

Long-term use and/or bingeing on meth frequently leads to drug-induced psychosis. The symptoms of psychosis include:

• Hallucinations, or false perceptions, may be associated with any of the five senses. The most frequent type of hallucination is auditory (e.g., the user hears voices that may issue commands to hurt others). Tactile hallucinations include formication, an advanced form of methamphetamine hallucination in which the user feels bugs on his/her skin. The user scratches at the "bugs" trying to remove them, gouging the skin, and leaving scars.
• Delusions are false personal beliefs that are inconsistent with the person's intelligence or cultural background. Delusions cannot be corrected by reasoning. For example, the user thinks the Mafia is out to kill him/her, or that the news broadcaster on TV is trying to communicate a secret message to the user.
• Paranoia occurs when the user feels extreme suspicion of others, their actions, or their intentions. For example, a user sees a duck in the river and thinks the police have placed a camera in the duck to watch him/her.

Antipsychotic medications (e.g., Haldol) can be used to treat the psychotic symptoms, but these drugs have a number of unpleasant and dangerous side effects. Psychotic symptoms may take between days and months to subside, and in some people, these symptoms may last for years or permanently.

Who uses crystal methamphetamine?

Methamphetamine use has moved beyond rave culture and into mainstream society. While crystal remains a popular recreational or club drug, users have expanded to include a wide range of groups including students, youth in the suburbs, professionals, the gay/bisexual/lesbian/transgendered population, young mothers, and street youth. Recent surveys report that 68-73% of street-involved youth in Vancouver have used crystal methamphetamine at least once.

Why do people use crystal methamphetamine?

People use crystal methamphetamine for many different reasons. Some people use crystal meth socially at parties or clubs with friends. Others use it as an aid to dieting. Students may use it to help them stay alert to study. Street youth commonly say they use meth because it reduces their need for food and sleep, two resources that may be in short supply on the street, and because it helps them forget or feel better about their living situation.

How is crystal methamphetamine addiction treated?

Crystal methamphetamine can cause long-term damage to the brain's ability to produce dopamine. Users often feel extremely depressed and can not experience normal feelings of happiness and contentment long after they stop using. For this reason it has one of the highest relapse rates for addicts and is considered extremely resistant to treatment.

Currently, the most effective treatments for methamphetamine addiction are cognitive behavioral interventions.

These approaches are designed to help patients modify their own thoughts and behaviours to increase their skills at coping with various life stressors. Support groups also appear to be effective adjuncts to behavioral interventions that can promote long-term abstinence. There are currently no known pharmacological treatments for methamphetamine abuse, although antidepressant medications are helpful in treating the depressive symptoms frequently seen in methamphetamine users who have recently stopped using.