Methamphetamine

[brianb0806]

Here is a good link for anyone working with kids. I would imagine this to be especially effective with girls, since they are generally more concerned with their appearance. Our only hope is to educate our people because we are never going to stop it at the border. Never!

http://www.facesofmeth.us/

[Thesis]

I at first hand am a factor to this and reaped the end result having me getting out of the Army. If I would change back time. I would have not taken drugs such as meth. And continue service. Now I have to depend on pills daily even though I have stabilized, I am now constantly living my everyday life and trying to cope with my disabilities. Wish I could still be in the service but my over thinking and over analyzing got me lost in my own reality. Well said SF MED.

Originally Posted by x SF med

Bill-
The organic changes to the brain caused by prolonged (or just excessive single dose) drug use, especially alkaloids, opiates and lysergines is generally not considered reversible - once brain cells are dead, they're gone. The brain can be repathed through intensive training/therapy - but the actual sections of the brain that are damaged will always be damaged.

Meth is especially evil in this respect due to the compounding effect of the chemicals used in manufacture, and the way meth affects the total nervous system. As a short non-scientific answer, meth attacks the higher thought centers and the 'control' centers (both voluntary and autonomic) of the brain.
Another effect of meth is the onset of psychosis in long term use, including bipolar disorders, straight depression, and hallucinatory/ paranoid disorders.
It's bad shit. Since these kids were (I suppose) heavy users at a young age, the effect is devastating, the brain may have ceased to develop, and there are probably mental and emotional components to the developmental retardation on top of the stated cognative issues.

Had Meth been the big thing in the 60's you'd have the term "meth casualties" instead of "acid casualties".

If I seem a bit in tune with this, it's because my older brother did this to himself - in his 20s, as a Marine (prior to drug testing) wit ha combination of LSD, pot, PCP, alcohol and the corrosion control chemicals he was exposed to in his job - my bet is the 10 hits of acid, 2 cases of beer and the dusted joints (according to him, nearly every night) did a great majority of the damage he's still trying to overcome decades later.

Your friend may be able to help one or two of these kids, the lightest of the former users, but even that is going to be an uphill battle.

God bless him for his efforts, but from experience I know how frustrating it is to see all that potential gone to waste.

[NurseTim]

Originally Posted by Ken Brock

The people that I have seen that get addicted to meth generally don't kick the habit

They also don't last as long as the ones addicted to crack or some other drugs.

Meth users and paint huffers seem to have a lifespan of about 5 years once they get started

So the problem is self limiting.

[Team Sergeant]

Since this was brought up again (holy necropost!) while I was in culinary college I sat next to another student that looked to be in his mid to late forties.

His teeth were completely destroyed and his hair was gray. After talking to him he said he was a recovering meth addict and used over ten years and that he was only 26 years old........ I'm a good judge of age and I would have bet my last dollar he was mid to late forties..... he will never recover from the meth use.

[cbtengr]

My brothers one younger, one older both destroyed their lives with drugs. 20 years ago when my older brother was 40 I went to go see him, I had not seen him in a long time and at first glance I wondered who this little old man was who was shuffling out of his house to greet me. He could have passed for 70. He could not understand how he could be so used up as he had given up the drugs and booze 5 years earlier. My younger brother age 56 lives with my mother he has totally destroyed his health and is medically a ward of the Federal Govt. He is morally bankrupt and cannot begin to grasp how I wish to never have any contact with him again. I have seen the first hand effect of drug abuse and as many of you know it is not a pretty sight.

[craigepo]

Among my duties, I am also the juvenile judge for three counties. We recently took three kids from the parents. Mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, all lived in a mobile home. Mom and dad we're cooking meth in the kids' bedroom. We took custody of the kids, ages 5,4,2 1/2, and newborn. First we had to get the kids on nebulizers for their breathing problems. Next had to get them on medication for the meth sores that were all over their skin, from being around the cooking fumes. Next, every time the parents got home, they put the kids in car seats in the house so they wouldn't have to deal wit them. As they always faced the 2 1/2 year old the same direction and jammed a bottle in its mouth, it now has a huge flat spot on its head, the doctors aren't sure if it's fixable or not.

When the parents finally sobered up in jail, they had no clue what had happened or what was going on with their kids.

Meth is one of the most evil substances on the planet.

[swatsurgeon]

Meth is terrible, krokadil is worse.

ss

[GratefulCitizen]

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-no...man_in_sa.html

Tweakers are the worst.
Dealt with several over the years working security in a nightclub.


Had one who went all "Tasmanian devil", brawling with random patrons.
He caught one of our staff with a swing as he was being hauled out the door.

That staff member had enough of the BS, picked him up, threw him head first into the asphalt, and finished with a few shots to the jaw.
Guy was laying there unconscious for about a minute (I checked to make sure he wasn't dead) and then, with no warning, pops up off the ground and goes back into Tasmanian devil mode as if nothing had happened.

Subduing him was a nightmare, and he kept fighting with whatever limb wasn't controlled.
Police got there (they knew him on a first name basis) and questioned whether the level of force was justified.

He was compliant at that point, and the police cuffed him without incident.
Then, after being cuffed, he started fighting with them (IIRC, even after they had him on the ground, cuffed, he bit one of them on the ankle).

Saw the same tweaker in the news again the next year.
There were accusations of police brutality in subduing him during an arrest.


Had another tweaker go nuts when we asked him and his girlfriend to cover there exposed body parts.
Guy was 140 lbs soaking wet, and it took 5 staff members to subdue him.

One of our staff, a very strong 320lb defensive lineman, was dropping full-force elbows on the back of the tweaker's neck just to gain control of the guy's right arm.
We were happy just to get him out the back fire exit and close the door.

The guy sprinted around to the front door looking like he was ready for more.
For whatever reason, he opted out of round two, but he didn't look like he even noticed the blows he took.

Meth is scary stuff.

[mojaveman]

If I got my history right methamphetamine was originally developed by the Third Reich to give to their soldiers when they became fatigued in battle. Many years later in the late 60's it became popular with California biker gangs who somehow found the chemical makeup and began producing it illegally to use and sell. Agree that it's terrible stuff and hope anyone who's addicted can overcome it. We had to fire a few of our tow drivers at work because they were using it to stay awake at night. I always knew when they were doing that because by noon we could never get them to wake up.