Methamphetamine is a
powerful central nervous system stimulant with a high potential for abuse
and dependence. It is not a new drug - a Japanese chemist
synthesized amphetamine in 1919.
The Japanese and Germans gave amphetamines to soldiers and factory workers
to help them stay alert during World War Two.
The method they used to produce the drug became known as the Nazi or Birth
method.
In the 1950s and ‘60s,
'uppers' were prescribed to help
people lose weight. But the drug, with a street name of speed,
grew in popularity as a means of getting a rush and a high. By the
1970's, it became a
black market cure-all for people wanting to stay awake, for weight control, for
increasing athletic performance and to treat mild depression. When
intravenous Meth abuse began spreading through the “speed freak”
sub-culture, violent and erratic behavior seen among chronic abusers led
medical authorities to discontinue its use.
In 1980, the federal
government put strict controls on Phenyl-2-propane, the precursor chemical
for Meth. The action curtailed the home P2P Meth labs, but cooks on the
West Coast soon discovered that ephedrine could be used to create an even
more potent form of the drug - crystal Meth. The newest supply of
speed was twice as potent as the old. Within just a few years, Meth
manufacturing grew from small shops set up to supply biker gangs to
multiple home labs, concentrated on the West Coast. Mexican drug
runners supplied large amounts of ephedrine to the cooks.
By the mid-1980s, the
Drug Enforcement Agency was searching for ways to stem the growth of Meth
manufacturing and use. In 1988, regulations on the sales and imports
of chemicals used to make illicit drugs, including ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine. The original proposal covered both the raw
materials and products made from them. Heavy lobbying by the
pharmaceutical industry led to a compromise: the raw materials would be
regulated, but not the over the counter medications made from them.
Meth cooks simply switched from using the raw materials to buying the
unregulated cold relief pills and adjusted their process to extract the
ephedrine/pseudoephedrine from them.
The following decade
ushered in a virtual explosion in make shift Meth labs, Meth use and
addiction. Manufacturers became more adept at purifying their
product, increasing its potency. Drug rehab centers began seeing more and
more clients naming Meth as their primary drug of choice. Mexican
drug lords stepped up their Meth manufacturing in Super Labs and increased
their smuggling operations into the U.S. In the mid-90s, foreign
ephedrine suppliers agree with the United State's request to stop
exporting their product to the cartels. The supply tightened up and
America's Meth became less pure.
By the late 90s, Meth
manufacturing took strong hold in the Midwest. The easy access to
anhydrous ammonia (used as a reagent in the process, please see The
Science of Meth for details) made the region appealing. The
low-populated rural areas also diminished the potential of discovery.
In 1997, Darcy Jensen saw the alarming growth of Meth use and
manufacturing in South Dakota as a major threat to the area. Jensen,
a drug prevention and treatment counselor, spearheaded the development of
MAPP-SD to combat the impact of Meth.
Canada joined Mexico
as a major supplier of pseudoephedrine to traffickers by 2001. In
2003, the Canadian government steps up its licensing system to help cut
back on the problem. Also in 2003, a National Survey on Drug Use and
Health found that approximately 12-million Americans had tried Meth at
least once. Mexican drug cartels increase the supply of Meth cooked
in Super Labs and smuggled into the U.S. by 2004. The supply of Meth
in America once again became more pure and potent. Oklahoma became
the first state to regulate the sales of pseudoephedrine products in 2004.
One year later, Congress passed the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of
2005 as a part of the Patriot Revision Act.
Today's Meth is far more potent than the Meth sold years ago, and
the infiltration
of Meth in society continues. The recipe for homemade Meth is still in
circulation and available over the Internet. It is cheap and easy to
make, which when combined with the long lasting high makes Meth a popular
substitute for cocaine. A new generation of users has made Meth their
drug of choice, leading to an epidemic of Meth and Meth labs across the
country.
(Adopted in part
from
Public Broadcasting Services - Frontline: The Meth Epidemic)
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