A Certain Kind of Hunger

Methamphetamine is a derivative of Amphetamine, both were developed as an alternative to ephedrine. A Japanese pharmacologist first synthesized methamphetamine in 1919. The drug, at the time, was used to treat narcolepsy, mild depression, and a load of other health problems.

Meth was also used highly in War World II by Japan, Germany, and U.S. troops to enhance their performance and endurance. After the war, meth by injection was used so much that it reached epidemic levels. The excess of meth left over from the war was made available to the Japanese public. There was an estimated 5% of people from the ages of 18 to 25 taking the drug.

Long term meth abuse has many consequences, including addiction. Addiction is a disorder characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse negative effects.

This is the cycle meth addiction usually takes on people; the rush, the high, the binge, tweaking, the crash, meth hangover, and withdrawal. A meth abusers' most dangerous stage of addiction is tweaking, as many as half of all meth users “tweak.” Eventually, the actual desire for drugs is more important than the feelings it gives you. After a long use, the person is no longer able to experience a high. At some point they experience auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, etc.

Tweaking leads to aggression and violence.

A Pontoon Beach, Illinois man who was high on meth when he killed his wife, then himself. In Portland, a woman on meth was convicted for killing her one year old child, strangling her with a scarf. In California, a meth addicted mother was arrested for locking her two young children in a cold, cockroach infested garage. There have been cases in Phoenix, Denver, Chicago, and California of mothers accused of murdering their babies while under the influence of meth.

In addition to crime, the health effects of using meth are catastrophic. Meth lands more people in hospitals than ecstasy, ketamine, and GHB combined. People who don’t overdose on meth can still die from it, meth can contribute to thoughts of suicide and lethal accidents.

Researchers from the NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse) analyzed data from 2015 to 2019, they found that meth overdose deaths in the U.S. had almost tripled. The number of deaths linked to methamphetamine use in the U.S. rose from 5,526 to 15,489 a year.

My point, don’t use meth.