A Global Recovery will be presenting facts on various narcotics, from time to time, under a section called “Quick Facts.” This first segment is on crystal meth facts. This particular article focuses more on the long-term health effects of methamphetamine.  Mostly all of the following information is based upon the statistics, studies and report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Research Report: “Methamphetamine Abuse and Addiction” section.  It can be found at the following link: www.drugabuse.gov/ResearchReports/methamph/methamph.html

Long-term meth abuse causes many harmful effects, including addiction, which “characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and drug use which is accompanied by functional and molecular changes in the brain,” per NIDA.  Additionally, chronic methamphetamine abusers often show signs of “violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia,” and, “a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions (for example, the sensation of insects creeping on the skin, which is called “formication”), which can result in homicidal as well as suicidal thoughts” (NIDA).

Building a tolerance to meth is pretty common amongst abusers, which can lead them to having to take larger quantities to obtain the same desired effects.  During a “run,” an abuser can inject “as much as a gram of the drug every 2 to 3 hours over several days” (NIDA), until they run out.  Often the result of the “run” is near starvation and dehydration as the participants often just forget to eat and drink.

Although no physical withdrawals take place when a meth user stops, in the case of habitual abusers (chronic user) of the drug, often “depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression, and an intense craving for the drug,” can result, according to NIDA.

In scientific studies conducted on animals to measure the long-term effects of meth on the brain, “Researchers have reported that as much as 50 percent of the dopamine-producing cells in the brain can be damaged after prolonged exposure to relatively low levels of methamphetamine,” says NIDA—as well as, nerve cell damage to serotonin-containing nerve cells.   However, researchers aren’t sure if brain toxicity is related to the psychosis seen in some long-term methamphetamine abusers.