poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 11,543
The Speed You're Taking Is Probably Just Meth
"Luke, is it? Fucking let me tell you something, okay," the drug dealer said. We were inside his St Kilda boarding house. His eyes were getting bigger, pupils like two vibrating eggs. "I am a fucking pharmacist, do you understand me?"
But he wasn't. And chances are he had no idea what he was making. Chances are my drug dealer friend cooking up speed in his sad, tiny room knew much less than than Rebecca McKetin, an associate professor at the Australian National University's College of Medicine, Biology, and Environment. According to Dr McKetin, thanks to drug lingo, there are some widespread misconceptions about what speed actually is.
"If you were taking something you called 'speed' from about 1990 onward, you were actually taking powdered meth—not amphetamine sulphate," she explains. "Many people have being taking 'speed' for a long time, when they are taking methamphetamine without realising." Police know this because when they test the 'speed' they've seized from people, it's usually actually powdered meth.
As Dr McKetin explains to me, powdered methamphetamine, which is also called "speed" or "meth," is just one of three distinct illegal amphetamine formulas. There's also amphetamine sulphate, or "speed," which hasn't been on the Australian market since the 1960s. Then there's crystal methamphetamine, which is called "ice" but again, also "meth." Crystallised meth is made with the same base ingredients as powdered meth—usually ephedrine or pseudoephedrine—but is generally much stronger.
Amphetamines and methamphetamines operate on the body in very similar ways. They both squeeze large amounts of dopamine into the synaptic cleft between neurons—making users feel happy. Methamphetamine is much stronger though, and actively suppresses the reabsorption of excess dopamine. On top of this it must be first metabolised into amphetamine before it can be disposed, which is one of the reasons its effects last longer.
This is pretty crucial information, and not just if you are user yourself—these nuances really help us understand a rise in methamphetamine-related harm in the past few years.
The Australian Government's 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey shows use of the less potent powdered meth decreased significantly from 51 percent to 29 percent between 2010 and 2013, while the use of crystal methamphetamine more than doubled, from 22 percent in 2010 to 50 percent in 2013.
"When crystallised meth started coming into the country and entering drug user circles, we also saw a corresponding increase in the purity of powdered meth," explains Professor Paul Dietze, deputy head of the Centre for Population Health at the Burnet Institute. "So the proportion of the population using methamphetamine hasn't really changed in several decades, it's just that people started using stronger meth, more often in the last few years."
This information prompts the question: Why is crystal meth so much more popular? As I was about to see at my "pharmacist" mate's place, it's likely got something to do with the fact that locally made, powdered meth is garbage. On top of that, importing crystal meth from overseas is becoming much more prevalent.
With the door still locked, I watched as my guy pulled out laundry powder, bleach, and a few empty coke bottles. When I described this setup to McKetin and Dietze, they both agreed this isn't how you make crystallised meth. The equipment was nowhere near sophisticated enough.
To make crystallised meth (that is to say, turning powdered meth into crystals) one needs industrial-scale equipment, which is why it's normally made in remote areas and developing countries.
The latest Illicit Drug Data Report shows 88 percent of the all amphetamines coming into Australia are coming from China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. According to data from the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, 86 percent of all crystal meth is coming via the parcel post, with another 9.5 percent coming in via air cargo.
If my drug dealer was making meth, it looked like he was using the shake and bake method—which makes (usually quite weak) powdered meth. Home labs, which don't produce crystal meth, are not the cause of our nation's methamphetamine problems. Yet they are often the focus of government campaigns that spend millions of special "task forces" to smash the labs.
If Australia wants to reduce crystal meth supply, it might try doing better work at its borders and in cooperation with governments right across the Asia-Pacific.
This is an edited extract from Ice Age: A Journey into Crystal Meth Addiction.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/if-y...-taken-powdered-meth?utm_source=vicefblocalau
"Luke, is it? Fucking let me tell you something, okay," the drug dealer said. We were inside his St Kilda boarding house. His eyes were getting bigger, pupils like two vibrating eggs. "I am a fucking pharmacist, do you understand me?"
But he wasn't. And chances are he had no idea what he was making. Chances are my drug dealer friend cooking up speed in his sad, tiny room knew much less than than Rebecca McKetin, an associate professor at the Australian National University's College of Medicine, Biology, and Environment. According to Dr McKetin, thanks to drug lingo, there are some widespread misconceptions about what speed actually is.
"If you were taking something you called 'speed' from about 1990 onward, you were actually taking powdered meth—not amphetamine sulphate," she explains. "Many people have being taking 'speed' for a long time, when they are taking methamphetamine without realising." Police know this because when they test the 'speed' they've seized from people, it's usually actually powdered meth.
As Dr McKetin explains to me, powdered methamphetamine, which is also called "speed" or "meth," is just one of three distinct illegal amphetamine formulas. There's also amphetamine sulphate, or "speed," which hasn't been on the Australian market since the 1960s. Then there's crystal methamphetamine, which is called "ice" but again, also "meth." Crystallised meth is made with the same base ingredients as powdered meth—usually ephedrine or pseudoephedrine—but is generally much stronger.
Amphetamines and methamphetamines operate on the body in very similar ways. They both squeeze large amounts of dopamine into the synaptic cleft between neurons—making users feel happy. Methamphetamine is much stronger though, and actively suppresses the reabsorption of excess dopamine. On top of this it must be first metabolised into amphetamine before it can be disposed, which is one of the reasons its effects last longer.
This is pretty crucial information, and not just if you are user yourself—these nuances really help us understand a rise in methamphetamine-related harm in the past few years.
The Australian Government's 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey shows use of the less potent powdered meth decreased significantly from 51 percent to 29 percent between 2010 and 2013, while the use of crystal methamphetamine more than doubled, from 22 percent in 2010 to 50 percent in 2013.
"When crystallised meth started coming into the country and entering drug user circles, we also saw a corresponding increase in the purity of powdered meth," explains Professor Paul Dietze, deputy head of the Centre for Population Health at the Burnet Institute. "So the proportion of the population using methamphetamine hasn't really changed in several decades, it's just that people started using stronger meth, more often in the last few years."
This information prompts the question: Why is crystal meth so much more popular? As I was about to see at my "pharmacist" mate's place, it's likely got something to do with the fact that locally made, powdered meth is garbage. On top of that, importing crystal meth from overseas is becoming much more prevalent.
With the door still locked, I watched as my guy pulled out laundry powder, bleach, and a few empty coke bottles. When I described this setup to McKetin and Dietze, they both agreed this isn't how you make crystallised meth. The equipment was nowhere near sophisticated enough.
To make crystallised meth (that is to say, turning powdered meth into crystals) one needs industrial-scale equipment, which is why it's normally made in remote areas and developing countries.
The latest Illicit Drug Data Report shows 88 percent of the all amphetamines coming into Australia are coming from China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. According to data from the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, 86 percent of all crystal meth is coming via the parcel post, with another 9.5 percent coming in via air cargo.
If my drug dealer was making meth, it looked like he was using the shake and bake method—which makes (usually quite weak) powdered meth. Home labs, which don't produce crystal meth, are not the cause of our nation's methamphetamine problems. Yet they are often the focus of government campaigns that spend millions of special "task forces" to smash the labs.
If Australia wants to reduce crystal meth supply, it might try doing better work at its borders and in cooperation with governments right across the Asia-Pacific.
This is an edited extract from Ice Age: A Journey into Crystal Meth Addiction.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/if-y...-taken-powdered-meth?utm_source=vicefblocalau
