Pingu
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2004
- Messages
- 3,337
I'm potentially going to be writing my criminology dissertation on the relative lack of prevalence of crystal meth use between the UK and other countries, giving reasons why this might be. Explanations I've thought of so far include historical, sociological and geographical reasons, as well as some relating to methods of production and the procurement of precursors.
Crystal meth use is prevalent in poland, czech republic and america. These three places all have widespread areas of unpopulated land, where production of meth could occur. This relative lack of space suitable for production seems a first glance to be a reason why there is limited meth, however MDMA production is supposedly rife in Amsterdam, with meth production needing a similar size space in which to synthesise.
The procurement of precursors needed for meth synthesis seems if anything to be easier to acquire than in other countries with high meth rates, with pseduo-ephedrine being available over the counter and apparently not watched by any authorities.
Late adoption of meth seems to be another area of research that does make sense when thinking about low use, with the media in the UK portraying meth as being a substance that one gets addicted to in one hit, with horrible consequences for anyone who does. This explanation becomes slightly less relevant when we compare this to the reporting of the crack epidemic in america, which was reported on in the UK media, and did not stop crack use spreading across the atlantic.
The high price of reportedly up to £200 a gram would likely play part, although that would be likely to come down were meth more widely available.
This is just a few ideas I've come up with so far. I'd be really grateful if anyone could come up with any other reasons for the lack of meth use. Any information or ideas anyone might have would be real helpful. Cheers in advance,
Pingu.
Crystal meth use is prevalent in poland, czech republic and america. These three places all have widespread areas of unpopulated land, where production of meth could occur. This relative lack of space suitable for production seems a first glance to be a reason why there is limited meth, however MDMA production is supposedly rife in Amsterdam, with meth production needing a similar size space in which to synthesise.
The procurement of precursors needed for meth synthesis seems if anything to be easier to acquire than in other countries with high meth rates, with pseduo-ephedrine being available over the counter and apparently not watched by any authorities.
Late adoption of meth seems to be another area of research that does make sense when thinking about low use, with the media in the UK portraying meth as being a substance that one gets addicted to in one hit, with horrible consequences for anyone who does. This explanation becomes slightly less relevant when we compare this to the reporting of the crack epidemic in america, which was reported on in the UK media, and did not stop crack use spreading across the atlantic.
The high price of reportedly up to £200 a gram would likely play part, although that would be likely to come down were meth more widely available.
This is just a few ideas I've come up with so far. I'd be really grateful if anyone could come up with any other reasons for the lack of meth use. Any information or ideas anyone might have would be real helpful. Cheers in advance,
Pingu.
