Methamphetamine - Usage Trends

Usage Trends

Methamphetamine was developed in the early twentieth century from amphetamine. Its stimulating effects on the brain and body quickly led to its abuse as a recreational drug.

Was Hitler a User?

During World War II (1939–1945), methamphetamine was one of several stimulant drugs given to soldiers to fight off battle fatigue. Some experts suspect that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) used methamphetamine regularly from the mid-1930s until the end of thewar, when he committed suicide in an underground bunker. According to the 2005 History Channel television documentary High Hitler, "In 1938 the king of Italy told his foreign minister that Hitler was being injected [with] narcotics and stimulants. Hitler's valet said that every morning before he got out of bed he had an injection that made him immediately alert and fresh for the day."

Hitler also had symptoms such as tremors, shuffling, and poor eyesight. It is unknown if some of these symptoms were caused by a neurological disorder such as Parkinson's disease, or by a drug habit. It is well documented, however, that Hitler's personal physician, Dr. Theodor Morell, provided him with a variety of daily medications. As noted in "High Hitler," Morell admitted in his diary that he supplied Hitler with a substance called "vitamultin" in both pill and injectable form. Many experts are convinced that Germany's leader was taking methamphetamine. Historians believe that Hitler's drug abuse affected his judgment and may have influenced his decisionmaking abilities during the war.

Methamphetamine in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

By the 1960s, the availability of injectable methamphetamine had increased, and the rate of addiction grew substantially. In 1970 the U.S. government passed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which classified methamphetamine as a Schedule II substance. This meant that it is approved for medical use with a prescription but nevertheless possesses a high potential for abuse. This legislation severely restricted the legal production of methamphetamine. With these restrictions, however, came a huge jump in the number of illegal labs that were manufacturing the drug. In the 1980s, a smokeable form of methamphetamine, known as ice or crank, came into widespread use.

Methamphetamine traffickingMaking, selling, or distributing a controlled drug. and abuse has been on the rise in the United States and throughout the world since the 1990s. Various sources, including the ONDCP's "Action Plan," have found that the methamphetamine problem is spreading from the western United States to the Midwest and the South. Much of the illegal supply is made and distributed by Mexican drug trafficking organizations. By the early 2000s, meth was being distributed by Mexican traffickers through networks that had been established earlier for cocaine, heroin, and marijuana sales. (Entries on these three drugs are also available in this encyclopedia.) According to the Drug Enforcement Administration's "Statistics: DEA Drug Seizures," more than 118 million doses of methamphetamine were seized in 2002. In addition, the agency's National Clandestine Laboratory Database reported that some 7,000 meth labs were destroyed in 2004. The states of Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee reported the highest number of meth lab incidents that year.

Is There Such a Thing as a Meth User Profile?

Most methamphetamine users report that they began taking the drug as an experiment. They wanted to have more energy and experience a powerful high. In the late 1990s, meth use in the United States was highest among white, male, blue-collar workers on the West Coast. As of 2005, the user profile had broadened to include diverse groups in all regions of the country. The authors of the 2005 study "The Meth Epidemic in America" noted that more high school- and college-aged students were taking the drug. Use had grown enormously among individuals in their twenties and thirties. There is no longer a definition of a "typical meth user." Use is high among the employed and the unemployed, white-collar workers and blue-collar workers, men and women. Though typically associated with whites, use is spreading among Hispanics and Native Americans as well.

Other groups showing increased use of methamphetamine include homeless and runaway youths, individuals who attend ravesOvernight dance parties that typically involve huge crowds of people, loud techno music, and illegal drug use., and homosexuals. The gay community is at special risk because of the "party and play" trend developing in homosexual circles. As reported by David J.L. Jefferson in a February 2005 Newsweek article, "party and play" refers to using methamphetamine and then having sex—often without a condom. There is growing concern that this type of abuse will lead to an increase in the spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Jefferson noted that when comparing nonusers and users of methamphetamine, the users were twice as likely to engage in unprotected sex and four times as likely to be HIV positive (carrying the human immunodeficiency virus, which can lead to AIDS).

Teen Use in the United States

The results of the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study were released to the public on December 21, 2004. An annual survey on adolescent drug use and attitudes, it is conducted by the University of Michigan (U of M) with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). According to the report, the percentage of eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders who had used methamphetamine in a one-year period decreased over the previous five years. In 1999, some 3.2 percent of eighth graders used methamphetamine at least once during the year, compared to 1.5 percent of eighth graders in 2004. Tenth-grader use in a one-year period decreased from 4.6 to 3 percent, and senior use of methamphetamine dropped from 4.7 to 3.4 percent.

The DAWN Reports

The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) keeps track of drug-related emergency department (ED) visits throughout the United States. Prior to 2003, statistics on methamphetamine and other amphetamines were grouped together in DAWN reports. The report titled "Amphetamine and Methamphetamine Emergency Department Visits, 1995-2002" showed a rise in the number of ED mentions related to these drugs over the seven-year span. Between 1995 and 2002, methamphetamine and amphetamine ED visits rose from 25,245 to 38,961—an increase of 54 percent. The latest DAWN figures available as of mid-2005 were from the last two quarters of 2003. During that six-month period, methamphetamine use alone accounted for more than 25,000 drug abuse-related ED visits. An additional 18,129 visits were attributed to other amphetamine use. Most of the patients were white males between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four.

Meth Use High Worldwide

Methamphetamine abuse is a global problem. The CBC-TV documentary series The Fifth Estate ran an episode called "Dark Crystal" in March of 2005 that reported on the meth problem in Canada. The number of illegal labs shut down by Canadian authorities in 2003 was nearly ten times higher than the number

A one-ounce bag of crystal meth, also known as ice, is shown here by police in Hawaii. It was seized during a raid on a home located on the same street as the police department. AP/Wide World Photos.
A one-ounce bag of crystal meth, also known as "ice," is shown here by police in Hawaii. It was seized during a raid on a home located on the same street as the police department. AP/Wide World Photos.

shut down in 1998. In addition, methamphetamine-related deaths rose from three in the year 2000 to thirty-three in the year 2004. Most of the deaths resulted from overdoses or car crashes involving a driver high on meth.

According to the 1998 United Nations fact sheet "Amphetamine-Type Stimulants: A Problem Requiring Priority Attention," in Japan nearly 90 percent of all drug-law violations involved methamphetamine. High rates of abuse have also been a problem in Thailand, the Philippines, and Korea since the 1990s. The World Health Organization's "Management of Substance Abuse" report states that "a major epidemic of methamphetamine use … appears to be spreading across the entire Asia Pacific region."