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NEWS: News.com.au - 13/11/07 'Addicts reveal chilling side-effects of ice'

hoptis

hoptis

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Addicts reveal chilling side-effects of ice
By Tamara McLean
November 13, 2007 05:06pm

PSYCHOSIS 20 times worse than that of heroin, violence, self-harm, insomnia and more are the dangerous side-effects of the illegal drug ice, youth workers and addicts have revealed.

One of the first Australian surveys of crystal methamphetamine addicts, their families and youth workers has revealed the full extent of ice's extreme side-effects.

The in-depth study of 26 addicts, commissioned by youth support group Open Family Australia (OFA), showed that most were under 25, unemployed, homeless and using the drug at least weekly.

More than 75 per cent were also heroin users.

OFA chief executive Sue Renkin warned that while ice use was not at epidemic proportions, the problem was still "ramping up", not slowing down.

"We're a long way from seeing the full individual and social cost of greater methamphetamine use," Ms Renkin said.

"The fact remains that in terms of extreme side effects, many youth workers believe ice-induced psychosis is 20 times worse than heroin," she said.

"The community can suffer seemingly more drastic consequences from two ice addicts than 50 heroin users who might go by largely unnoticed."

She said many of those questioned had suffered debilitating hallucinations, violent psychotic episodes, paranoia, desire to self-harm, extreme weight loss, dental problems and insomnia, with some going up to seven days without sleep.

"One young man in his 20s lost 12 teeth," Ms Renkin said.

OFA said more money should be spent educating school children about the perils of the drug.

"Studies show most young people don't start using ice until their late teens, so alerting them to its dangers and disastrous side effects before then is vital," she said.

Ms Renkin said there had been much media hype about ice and plenty of quantitative studies.

"But this new information provides a more detailed picture of the ongoing impact of ice on at-risk young people, and reveals a worrying connection between the drug and heroin," Ms Renkin said.
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News.com.au
 
I know meth is gripping but seriously, when you have lost 12 teeth, living like a troll under a bridge stealing off mates to get your next fix, take a look at yourself in the mirror and stop.

Its meth, its not heroin. You CAN stop meth. Get over the fiend.
 
Splatt said:
Its meth, its not heroin. You CAN stop meth. Get over the fiend.
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i think that the media does not do justice to any drugs, working within a residential non medicated detox you get to see all the characteristic of a detox for various substances- Both physically and psychologically.

just give it up for some people is not always as easy as it sounds; for some people it cost them more than others,

i remember reading that the most successful detox & abstinence from heroin was when the person woke up one morning and decided enough was enough, further it talked about drug career lasting specific times, yet this doesn't seem all that relevant to methamphetamine even with the long term IV community.


heroin was not the Devil that it was made out to be compared to ice; ma bey the difference between stimulant and depressants who knows.

one thing is certain tho more and more mental health problems are being linked to the functioning of dopamine and nor epinephrine systems of the brain- which methamphetamine (meth through to Ice) actively engages with.


"if the brain was simple to understand; we'd be to simple to understand it"
 
I'd like to know if there many "normal" people who use ice that end up as hopeless addicts... I'd imagine (though I could be totally wrong) that most of the people who end up totally fucked due to their drug use would be leading pretty horrid lives even without drugs.

In my experience, most reasonably sane people seem to be able to control their usage enough to hold down a job and get through their day to day lives okay.
 
Wait till MDPV hits Australia.... I hope it doesn't. It may work on nor epinephrine only but that makes you think, wow.. my heart isnt about to explode, lets smoke/have more... and more.. and more....... the psychosis from redosing MDPV is just as bad as meth.
 
Soma24 said:
I'd like to know if there many "normal" people who use ice that end up as hopeless addicts.
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Fark that was a really subjective moral statement; you'll find that drugs don't discriminate between social class systems,

the difference is that people who have lots of money go to a retreat or private psychiatric clinic where they can be assured of their privacy and social status.

one thing im reminded of every time i go to work is that: people are people and im a person too just as you are, the difference is the way we negotiate and manage the barriers, structures and challenges in our lives.
 
heh, why did you automatically think normal meant upper class?? :p ...I more meant psychiatrically well off, and I realise it was a pretty broad statement, hence the quotation marks.

All my friends love drugs and have pretty addictive personalities, but they seem to keep their drug use reasonably well in check most of the time, so it doesn't cost them their job or anything.

Just wondering if you guys know anyone who was a pretty sane individual, but totally went off the rails due to drugs... everyone I know of who's become a hardcore addict it was pretty much like "well yeah, who didn't see that coming"
 
the whole notion of addiction is quite a phenomenon- usually perceived by the general population as a disease and quite different from the substance use disorder out of the American psychiatric associations Diagnostical and statiticcal manual (DSM-IV).

there has been alot of work recently to suggest that self control is a major issue in the development of a problematic relationship with a substance/s.

Then there is also the research around self medication by khanzian (check spelling) where people self administer substances to alter physiological deficiencies within themselves and plenty of research to state that people who self medicate also overdo it due to the poor quality control of illicit drugs.

i also think its pretty convenient to blame drugs for a persons behavior and choices,

what (IMO) happens is that drug using behaviors become so practiced and available that they may somewhat take on the form of an emotion or may somewhat be tied to emotions around notions of control and self identity.

Like everything practice makes perfect, the real problem lies on the way back breaking those behaviours.
 
madmick I only talk from experience. when I got psychosisis, gum and teeth (just wisdom ands related problems) and other meth related crap I thought fuck this, what other drug doesthis... nothjing.. Meth is evil shit.
 
Heh i know of a guy here in melbourne who is completely insane, believes he's some mob figure because he sells the shit, holds guns to peoples heads for stuff and decided for $50 it was cool for him to take my mates computer...

Then when called to ask why he hadn't given the computer back all we heard were the psychotic screams of a madman on a rampage of destruction. Suffice to say my mate paid his debt and still hasn't seen his poor computer :(

Sad really. What this shit can do to some peoples minds.
 
Splatt said:
madmick I only talk from experience. when I got psychosisis, gum and teeth (just wisdom ands related problems) and other meth related crap I thought fuck this, what other drug doesthis... nothjing.. Meth is evil shit.
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if you're smoking mdpv be prepared for some nasty shit. it might not be related but after a month on mdpv lumps started growing on my tongue...
 
I was never an addict but have had mild psychosis a couple of times from binging too hard on meth. It's not an enjoyable experience to go through, thinking people are following you and hearing things. I fucking detest speed/meth now. It was a big part of the reason I quit using drugs completely.
 
I think it's not about class, it's about having something to keep you grounded.

For me it's my job, so I won't take anything during the week because I know it will affect my work performance. I have a lot of friends who are the same, and some who don't care about their jobs and go about their lives carefree and it does affect their work.
 
I get paranoid just getting high on meth, and I'm a fairly new/infrequant/irregular user.

After doing any line after my first of the night, I always scan the area looking for any gear I might have dropped, I'll put my baggie in my wallet, pocket my wallet, start to walk around, then stop and pull my wallet out to make sure I didn't forget the baggie, turn around and scan the area again for any spillage/dropped baggie/whatever, rinse repeat 2 or 3 times before I can leave and go back into the club. I get this compulsive paranoia about meth, I always freak out and worry that I've lost my stuff, or spilt some or whatever. And this is from someone who's only just started using it, it's not like I'm an addict, or even a heavy user, but as soon as the drug kicks in, so does this paranoia.
 
Sounds like my mate. Every three seconds while we used to drive to the park or whatever to boof up. He'd be like "hold onto that gear, dont let it fly out the window" or "You holding onto that gas?" etc....
Then it got to the point we'd just shoot up where the dealer dropped our bag off, because he was too impatient.
 
Soma24 said:
I'd like to know if there many "normal" people who use ice that end up as hopeless addicts... I'd imagine (though I could be totally wrong) that most of the people who end up totally fucked due to their drug use would be leading pretty horrid lives even without drugs.

In my experience, most reasonably sane people seem to be able to control their usage enough to hold down a job and get through their day to day lives okay.
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Yeah Ive seen a friend turn from a pretty normal sane person who used drugs on weekends only (speed and or pills mainly) to using every night and day it was available, i think it was the smoking of crystals that did it personally, as this person used to be fine with just lines and pills for over a decade or more, then crystals came in, he and his friends started smoking it alot and next thing over a yr or two, no job, no life, sells all his belongings and starts to really talk about some weird shit everytime i saw him, and everytime i went to his place all these seedy fuckers were always there smoking ice.

This person was a great friend, but turned into a not so good friend on ice who ripped some of my, and his mates off in quite a large way, in what i suspect was to gain more money for meth...
 
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arizona83 said:
I was never an addict but have had mild psychosis a couple of times from binging too hard on meth. It's not an enjoyable experience to go through, thinking people are following you and hearing things. I fucking detest speed/meth now. It was a big part of the reason I quit using drugs completely.
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Personally i really dislike the meth/ice/crystals but some speed, what me and my mates refer to as old fashioned goey now doesnt seem nearly as addictive, to me personally anyway. Just from my own experience with the 2 substances. Its a bit of a shame so much high purity crystals came into Australia. i guess it was only a matter of time, but in the early 90's and mid to late 90's there wasn't any ice in the dance music scene in Syd. I saw some brown rock shit in a clear cap once dunno what that was but generally it was all powder. And it didnt seem to hook people so much/hard.

Yeah sure some people smoked that as snow cones or whatever but it wasnt the same hardcore addiction and aggresion and paranoia that ice seems to bring out in some people.
 
i really don't think that 'ice' and 'speed' should be considered different drugs. its all methamphetamines (remember when 'ice' used to refer to 4mar only?), just different purity. if you don't like crystals, crush that shit up and mix in whatever cuts you like. for myself, i'll take the higher purity option every time, then i can choose what impurities to add (ie none).

the problem is that people are generally having more meth then they previously might have. perhaps its analogous to shots of spirits as compared with beer.

also smoking meth is more likely to lead to addiction, but then any decent power gear should also be smokeable, so this issue isn't necessarily confined to crystaline meth.

for myself, i enjoy meth. me and most of my friends use it responsibly, and have no issues carrying on with our regular lives. that said, i think it is the most addictive drug i have used, in my opinion more so than heroin. so it certainly should be treated with respect.
 
johnnyonelove said:
i really don't think that 'ice' and 'speed' should be considered different drugs. its all methamphetamines

also smoking meth is more likely to lead to addiction, but then any decent power gear should also be smokeable, so this issue isn't necessarily confined to crystaline meth.
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youre right, its all methamphetamine, Methamphetamine like stimulants have commonly been mistaken or misrepresented as something other than methamphetamine. Speed base ice and methamphetamine is all the same chemical compound with crystal methamphetamine (ice) as the final result or purest form of methamphetamine.

When meth is cooked and becomes crystalline it achieves some extra properties which makes it more efficiently in the synapse and receptorsites & carriers- i think its described in texts as a "Pure Pleasure Drug" with the same efficiency characteristics as cocaine.

Alex Wodak states that Smoking methamphetamine increases the blood concentration of it in the brain as delivery is through the lungs, even more so than injection at the elbow.

so;
being an extremely efficient drug + Using most efficient ways of ingesting
= large effect on both body and mind.

the term addiction (IMO) is very conveniently used to not necessarily take responsibility (or identify) their own thoughts and needs.
 
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