Australia – an island nation in the grip of a Crystal Meth epidemic that triggered a war between ruthless outlaw motorcycle gangs and the cops. But there’s another player fuelling the lucrative Meth business – the Triads. Drugs Inc s7e16: Aussie Ice Wars
Thailand … For some, an elicit playground … An addiction epidemic: a little Meth pill called Yaba. Causes madness and misery. The death penalty hangs over every dealer, but the gangs push on. Drugs Inc s7e19: Bangkok Ice
In 2010 Tennessee busted 2,157 Meth labs – a national record. Drugs Inc Compilation: Breakdown, National Geographic 2015
The Asian cartel has been poisoning San Francisco with Meth for almost twenty-five years. Drugs Inc Compilation: Cartel Chaos
Crystal Meth and alcohol: the old face of addiction and the new. Over twenty million Americans are hooked. Drugged: High on Meth, National Geographic 2013
A drug that’s increasingly become a problem across the world. ibid.
Crystal Meth costs around $120 per gram. ibid.
Crystal Meth increases libido and sexual pleasure. ibid.
Over time Meth users need the drug more and more frequently to feel OK. ibid.
This insomnia isn’t unusual for Meth addicts: it’s a chronic side-effect. ibid.
Crystal Meth addicts have a high risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. ibid.
It’s the drug that stops at nothing. It has a dozen names. Crystal. Ice. Tina. Crank. Most just call it Meth, short for Methamphetamine. It’s more powerful and cheaper than cocaine. And you can make it in your own back yard. The World’s Most Dangerous Drug, National Geographic 2006
Methamphetamine is an upper, a super-strong kind of speed that packs a punch three and a half times more powerful than cocaine. ibid.
In the last ten years Meth use has exploded. ibid.
Australia is home to an estimated 70,000 Meth addicts. ibid.
In some Mexican jails one in four inmates test positive for Meth when arrested. ibid.
These people looked like the living dead. ibid.
Meth can transform the appearance of users. While under its spell many feel a crawling sensation and begin to pick at their skin creating open soars. ibid.
It even has a name – Meth mouth. ibid.
The Japanese invented Meth nearly a century ago. ibid.
More than 60% of the world’s Methamphetamine users live in Asia. ibid.
The Meth high lasts much longer than other drugs – up to twelve hours. ibid.
The common hallucination known as Meth bugs. ibid.
A new and dangerous plague – Meth labs. ibid.
Mexican Meth is getting more attention and using up more public resources. ibid.
Meth is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. As much as 92% of users relapse after treatment. ibid.
Crystal Meth is fast becoming the world’s most dangerous drug. Now its path of destruction has arrived in the UK. Crystal Meth in the UK, 2011
Today the US is experiencing an epidemic of Crystal Meth use. ibid.
Sex parties – otherwise known as slamming parties – are dangerously common with Crystal Meth users on the London gay circuit. ibid.
Addicts show signs of abuse – rapid loss of weight and an obsessive scratching of the skin. ibid.
Methamphetamine – the most addictive illegal drug in America. Frontline: The Meth Epidemic, PBS 2006
An epidemic of Methamphetamine abuse. ibid.
In 2005 more than half of the inmates in Portland jails were Meth users. ibid.
They commit 85% of the property crime in the state. ibid.
Crystal Meth can be made from household products. ibid.
Health effects: Loss of teeth, lung failure, bowels bleed, Meth twitch, body sores. Deadliest Drugs, short film: story of Robbin
It makes you feel like you can leap buildings in a single bound.’ ibid. US Meth user
I think it’s better to be comfortable in your skin than to be miserable being who you are. Sure, the Meth is horrible. It ruins people from the inside out. It’s a waiting game – it’s not a matter of if it destroys you, but rather a matter of when it will. I’ve made it this far. I’m not sending a message that it’s ‘cool’ to be on drugs and tell everyone about it. I don’t sum myself up as a drug addict and a hooker. That’s not what I am. Those are just things I do, they don’t define me. Jobs and addictions do not make us who we are. Ashly Lorenzana
Yaba: a menacing mix of Methamphetamine and Caffeine. It’s creating a new epidemic. Stacey Dooley Investigates: Thailand’s Drug Craze, BBC 2013
In less than five years Yaba has completely overtaken all other drug use in Thailand. ibid.
Candy-scented pills. ibid.
Children as young as eight are becoming addicted. ibid.
The world’s largest producer of Crystal Meth – Mexico ... Prices have halved. Stacey Dooley: Meth and Madness in Mexico, BBC 2015
‘I was up for thirty-two days. And I ended up in a Psych Ward for six months afterwards.’ ibid.
In Mexico less than 2% of murders resulted in convictions in 2012. ibid.
Cartels: The most ruthless people I have ever heard of. ibid.
Mexican Army Busts 15 Tons of Pure Metamphetamine & Lab. Fox News, America Live, news report 10th February 2012
Meth has destroyed this community. ibid. woman in caravan
Methamphetamine is a highly addictive, toxic, synthetic stimulant. Meth causes euphoria, brain damage, psychosis, tooth decay, skin lesions, paranoia and death. Sheriff’s departments across the nation rank Meth as the #1 crime problem in America today. Montana ranks second in the nation for teenage and adult Meth abuse. Montana Meth, caption, HBO 2007
‘It’s like being dead for ten seconds.’ ibid. addict
‘The biggest head-rush in the world.’ ibid. addict #2
‘I would sleep with guys for Meth.’ ibid. recovering addict
‘It’s an ecstasy unlike any other drug.’ ibid. doctor
93% of addicts in traditional treatment relapse into Meth abuse. ibid. caption
‘That’s my child and how do I deal with this.’ American Meth, mother, 2008
‘It came on us so fast … This has had a greater impact on our community than anything else.’ ibid. rozzer Frank Garner
Adolf Hitler received daily injections of Meth from 1942 until his death. ibid.
In the 1950s Meth was legally marketed in the United States as Benzedrine, used to fight obesity, narcolepsy and sinus inflammation. ibid.
Under the delusional belief that most truck drivers are on Meth, several addicts have admitted to searching roadsides for bottles containing a driver’s urine, in hopes of ‘recycling’ what Meth might be left behind, and drinking it. ibid.
I was in Fresno, California, on the trail of the world’s most abused hard drug: Methamphetamine or Crystal Meth is a derivative of speed. Cheap and easy to produce it can be devastating for those who get addicted. Louis Theroux, The City Addicted to Crystal Meth, BBC 2009
The city is also home to the largest rehab facility in the state of California. ibid.
‘Crime authorities today warned that Australia is in the grip of an epidemic of the drug Ice.’ Reggie Yates, Hidden Australia II: Addicted to Ice, Australian news, BBC 2017
Ice is the purest and strongest form of Methamphetamine. ibid.
Ice can cause violence and psychosis … whether snorted, smoked or injected. ibid.
Over the last decade law enforcement has virtually shut down American Meth production. Into the void have rushed Mexican cartels flooding the US with a cheaper, more pure Super Meth called ICE. Meth Storm, caption, Sky Atlantic 2018
Beginning in 2014, the DEA launched Operation ICE Storm in rural Arkansas. The goal is to turn low-level drug dealers against the suppliers and trace the Meth back to its source in Mexico. ibid.