OTTAWA -- Drug advocacy groups and police in Western Canada are noticing a disturbing new trend of teenage girls who use the drug crystal meth to lose weight -- up to 18 kilograms a month.
"We've got a recipe for disaster," says addiction counsellor Bob Hughes. "It's huge -- this combination of body image issues and the drug's weight loss appeal."
Crystal meth, the street version of the drug methamphetamine, is an addictive stimulant that causes elation and alertness in addition to curbing appetite.
Meth users can smoke, snort, inject or swallow the drug. They're usually ingesting a crude combination of cold medicine, brake cleaner, fertilizer, drain cleaner and iodine along with a myriad of other chemicals.
"Meth is an appetite suppressant," says Vancouver RCMP Corp. Scott Rintoul. "It's a drug that will give you stimulation for 12 hours, with no need to eat and no need to sleep."
It's also cheap -- between $5 to $10 per hit -- and has consequently been labelled the "poor man's cocaine."
But this time, teenage girls are using it.
"Young women know and find out quickly that there are drugs that do reduce your appetite and cause you to lose weight," says Rintoul. "And meth is so affordable."
Hughes, who helps run a crystal meth treatment program called Meth Kickers, in Kamloops, B.C., says he's seeing an increased number of teenage girls aged 12 to 18 come through his doors.
"You see these women who are 5-foot-4 and 95 pounds and they have such a distorted body image," he said.
According to the World Health Organization, methamphetamine is the most widely used illicit drug in the world after cannabis.
"We're in this era of stimulant drugs -- the need for speed," says Rintoul. "But when it comes to body image, we also have the need to be thin."
Methamphetamine has been around for decades. It was marketed in North America in the 1920s as a weight-loss drug.
"It was touted for its dietary benefits," says Hughes. "It's amazing that in the first place this drug was used was for weight loss."
Meth is relatively simple to make. There are thousands of recipes on the Internet and police estimate that an investment of about $150 can yield an amount worth about $10,000 on the street.
But it also has lethal side effects. Meth use can cause insomnia, hallucinations, paranoia and anxiety as well as heart problems, convulsion, brain damage and death.
Hughes presently has seven young people in his Meth Kickers treatment program. All are female and two have eating disorders.
The six-week outpatient program, which is just under a year old, has been touted as unconventional. That's because patients are allowed to smoke marijuana while trying to kick the meth habit.
"It's a harm reduction program," says Hughes. "And some people are more comfortable with that than others."
Across the country, there are unclear statistics of how many girls use crystal meth to lose weight. But one thing that both police and drug advocacy groups agree on is that the drug is spreading from west to east.
"We can see the tornado coming," says Zenon Lisakowski, a prevention and education consultant with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba. "But what is interesting is that we have the ability to put preventative measures in place."
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Girls turn to drug to lose weight
Katie Lewis, For CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, February 11, 2006
Link
"We've got a recipe for disaster," says addiction counsellor Bob Hughes. "It's huge -- this combination of body image issues and the drug's weight loss appeal."
Crystal meth, the street version of the drug methamphetamine, is an addictive stimulant that causes elation and alertness in addition to curbing appetite.
Meth users can smoke, snort, inject or swallow the drug. They're usually ingesting a crude combination of cold medicine, brake cleaner, fertilizer, drain cleaner and iodine along with a myriad of other chemicals.
"Meth is an appetite suppressant," says Vancouver RCMP Corp. Scott Rintoul. "It's a drug that will give you stimulation for 12 hours, with no need to eat and no need to sleep."
It's also cheap -- between $5 to $10 per hit -- and has consequently been labelled the "poor man's cocaine."
But this time, teenage girls are using it.
"Young women know and find out quickly that there are drugs that do reduce your appetite and cause you to lose weight," says Rintoul. "And meth is so affordable."
Hughes, who helps run a crystal meth treatment program called Meth Kickers, in Kamloops, B.C., says he's seeing an increased number of teenage girls aged 12 to 18 come through his doors.
"You see these women who are 5-foot-4 and 95 pounds and they have such a distorted body image," he said.
According to the World Health Organization, methamphetamine is the most widely used illicit drug in the world after cannabis.
"We're in this era of stimulant drugs -- the need for speed," says Rintoul. "But when it comes to body image, we also have the need to be thin."
Methamphetamine has been around for decades. It was marketed in North America in the 1920s as a weight-loss drug.
"It was touted for its dietary benefits," says Hughes. "It's amazing that in the first place this drug was used was for weight loss."
Meth is relatively simple to make. There are thousands of recipes on the Internet and police estimate that an investment of about $150 can yield an amount worth about $10,000 on the street.
But it also has lethal side effects. Meth use can cause insomnia, hallucinations, paranoia and anxiety as well as heart problems, convulsion, brain damage and death.
Hughes presently has seven young people in his Meth Kickers treatment program. All are female and two have eating disorders.
The six-week outpatient program, which is just under a year old, has been touted as unconventional. That's because patients are allowed to smoke marijuana while trying to kick the meth habit.
"It's a harm reduction program," says Hughes. "And some people are more comfortable with that than others."
Across the country, there are unclear statistics of how many girls use crystal meth to lose weight. But one thing that both police and drug advocacy groups agree on is that the drug is spreading from west to east.
"We can see the tornado coming," says Zenon Lisakowski, a prevention and education consultant with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba. "But what is interesting is that we have the ability to put preventative measures in place."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Girls turn to drug to lose weight
Katie Lewis, For CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, February 11, 2006
Link
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
