Meth Essay

The Meth Epidemic

Methamphetamine is said to have first made its appearance in the United States as early as World War II (Anglin, Burke, Perrochet, Stamper, & Dawud-Noursi, 2000). It was given to soldiers and pilots to increase their endurance as well as their attentiveness. Roughly two decades later, a liquid form of methamphetamine became available for the treatment of heroin addiction. It wasn’t until the 1990’s where it really began to be a problem. In trailer parks across Oregon, methamphetamine abuse was at an all-time high (Byker, 2011). By 2003, meth had begun spreading throughout the United States as the number of reports of meth labs increased from as far east as Florida.

In the video The Meth Epidemic (Byker, 2011), the narrator explains some of the contributing factors to the increased use of methamphetamine in the United States. The numinous euphoric high that this stimulant produces becomes increasingly appetitive to users. Meth addicts stay awake for days at a time when using the drug. The video expounds that throughout the years of popularity, meth had gone through drastic fluctuations in its purity. As the ingredients commonly used to produce the meth became scarce, so did the purity of the supply. In addition to the incredible purity of the drug, it became apparent that with the right equipment just about anyone could produce it. The increase in the amount of small meth lab operations is also said to have been a contributing factor to the spike in use throughout the United States (Byker, 2011).

Methamphetamine causes several physiological effects and can be administered in methods like smoking, snorting, and intravenously with a hypodermic needle. Some short term effects of methamphetamine include increase...

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...xplain step by step how to produce it. It was also mentioned that and astounding 50% of children in foster care are there because of parental use of meth. Anglin et al. (2000) discussions how parents who are meth abusers are likely to abuse and/or neglect their children. In addition, findings suggest that meth use during pregnancy can cause serious deleterious effect like growth retardation, premature birth, and placental abruption ("Methamphetamine", 1998).

References

Anglin, M., Burke, C., Perrochet, B., Stamper, E., & Dawud-Noursi, S. (2000). History of the methamphetamine problem. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 32, 137-141.

Byker, C. (Director). (2011). The meth epidemic [DVD]: PBS Home Video.

Methamphetamine. (1998). National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/methamphetamine