Hi, I live in an area heavy with meth addicts and it's very sad and scary sometimes. A few people I know are former users or addicts, and I am really curious about how meth affects the brain chemistry. I want to understand the appeal of meth as well as the long-term health consequences in order to better understand this quotient of my community. Please share scientific articles and research that shows the effects of meth on the brain both temporarily and long-term.
Well, if you had a lot of money you could pay to have their brains scanned and you could create a good presentation. I don't think meth is appealing at all. I think people know it is awful. You're going to have your curious users and your desperate users - but I don't know how many percentage-wise will become addicted. You have an advantage with knowing the people who are recovering. Have you thought about interviewing them?
If you come to the UK, Speed (amphetamine) is not considered a particularly bad drug in most people's eyes. Many of them see it as the next step up from marijuana. Mention meth(amphetamine), however, and they all run away scared! They don't realize that meth is just speed with an extra methyl group added so it passes the blood-brain barrier quicker. Amphetamine, however, is not neurotoxic whereas methamphetamine is. The appeal for me personally was therefore because I had already been using Speed for many years and meth was a relatively new thing. The feeling is very much like experiencing a constant orgasm throughout your whole body but here's the thing - many people get addicted to it because of the way it allows them to perform and for this reason meth is popular at sex parties. Some users have reported to have been able to orgasm for up to seventeen hours while on meth! Not only that but all the associated feelings are greatly amplified. Consequences of meth use include meth mouth, rotting and grinding down of teeth, dehydration, circadian arrhythmia, vasoconstriction, kidney damage and long-term use can lead to hypothermia (due to the vasoconstriction) or an aortic spasm. It can also cause paranoia, delusions, hallucinations and can lead on to schizophrenia. There's plenty of information about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/methamphetamine
I'd imagine it would kill a few brain cells but that is not exactly "scientific". Keep up the research and post what you find.
It definitely causes brain damage, but the meth heads are more worried and paranoid about themselves to harm yuo.
Be wary of the methodology used in any research you encounter on drugs (not just for meth). Unfortunately not all studies are performed in such a manner that they are ecologically valid (aka applicable to real world scenarios), and there is unfortunately a political agenda that contributes to which information is published and which is not. Give this a read https://www.opensocietyfoundations....hamphetamine-dangers-exaggerated-20140218.pdf It provides a more objective look on the topic, a good place to start. At the end in the references section there are many other articles on the topic. Not that meth is healthy in any way, but objectivity must be maintained in order to remedy the situation
I agree with this. I do think that all research on this topic should be studied objectively due to the fact that different substances affect different people differently. Additionally, it also depends on the method of consumption, the form of the substances (salt/freebase/etc), their purity, how often they are used, etc. On top of that, several different studies tend to show different results although there does usually seem to be several denominating factors.
You can find a lot of medical journals that are helpful at the National Institutes of Health. Here is the website to their page. They have so many resources and medical studies that you can read: http://www.nih.gov/
I think just by simply Googling can give you lots of links about it, it will be a matter of how reliable those information and sources are. I personally think that it damaged the brain and can cause hallucinations. IMO
The Effects of Crystal Meth Use - DrugAbuse.com https://drugabuse.com/library/the-effects-of-crystal-meth-use/