Methamphetamine

Running head: METHAMPHETAMINE

Methamphetamine

Tara

Itt-technical Institute

Methamphetamine

Abstract

This paper is about the methamphetamine epidemic, why it is important and the affects it has on everyone involved. It not only affects the user but also family, friends and the victims of the user's crime. I went about getting my information from personal knowledge and experience along with extensive internet research. I found huge amounts of information everywhere I looked, I found information that supported my first assumption which is, methamphetamine is a seriously devastating addiction. I also came across information I was already aware of.

Methamphetamine

The drug that I am going to examine is methamphetamine. The methamphetamine epidemic has plagued many cities, small towns and even countries. Methamphetamine has overtaken cocaine as the biggest drug problem in rural and small towns in the US, according to a crime survey of 45 states. A survey of 500 county law enforcement agencies found meth-related arrests had gone up over the past three years. More than half of the police, sheriff departments and other agencies polled said the highly addictive substance was their biggest drug problem (Bonnй, 2006).

Methamphetamine is the primary drug threat in California. Within the state, Hispanics and Caucasians are the almost exclusive consumers of meth. Purity levels of meth have ranged from a low of 10% to a high of 100% pure (DEA, 2006).

Methamphetamine, which also goes by the name, meth, crystal, or crank, is a huge problem in the US today. It is easy to come by and even easier to produce by yourself and that right there is a very scary thought. If you have the right chemicals, many of which you can buy over the counter, you can sit at home and produce methamphetamine. It spreads like a virus, from cook to cook, from small town to small town. With the raw materials readily available, meth labs' can be established anywhere that is relatively discreet.

Developed by the Japanese chemist A. Ogata in 1919, methamphetamine was used during World War II to help soldiers stay alert and to energize factory workers. After World War II a massive supply of meth, formerly stocked by the Japanese military, became available in Japan, skyrocketing addiction. Amphetamines first came to this country at the start of the 1930s, and was traded on the street, mostly as a powder that could be snorted or made into an injectable solution.

Injection of amphetamines dates from the 1960s, when some users began shooting the drug into their veins to achieve a more intense "high." High-intensity users (known as speed freaks or tweakers) would often inject amphetamine for days, until overcome by exhaustion or psychosis. The aggressive behavior of these users, their unpredictable temper, physical weakening, and profound weight loss gave rise to the once-familiar warning that speed kills.

By the end of the 60s, amphetamine abuse began to fade. Illicit sales dwindled after the federal government tightened controls on amphetamine production in 1970, and the Drug Enforcement Administration and medical licensing boards cracked down on "script doctors" who freely handed out amphetamine prescriptions.

In the 1980s, ice, an extremely addictive and potent form of meth, came into use. In the United States, there have been three distinct meth epidemics: one in the 1950s, a second in the late 1960s, and the third and current one that began in the mid-1990s (GDCADA, 2006).

Methamphetamine definitely has the attention of probably every law enforcement personnel in the world. It is becoming the most used illicit drug and the hardest to keep people away from. There are countless numbers of methamphetamine programs and different ways of trying to combat this horrible drug. For example, The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has announced the availability of several technical assistance resources intended to help law enforcement and their community's combat methamphetamine and crimes related to the drug's use, production, and distribution (Ray, 2006).

The Department of Justice's Efforts to Combat Methamphetamine: on June 16, 2006, President George W. Bush directed his Administration to take aggressive and collaborative action in addressing the dangerous production of methamphetamine. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has directed the Department of Justice to make this effort a top priority. The Department's goals in this effort are to communicate, cooperate and coordinate with international, state and local law enforcement partners to tackle every aspect of this deadly threat to our nation.

Other methods they are trying to implement are: Increasing DEA Operations and Arrests, Making Meth Prosecutions a Priority for U.S. Attorneys, Working with State and Local Law Enforcement, Providing Information and Awareness, Strengthening International Partnerships to Combat Methamphetamine, Using Additional Tools to Targeting Meth Traffickers (DOJ, 2006).

Other programs include, combat meth act 2005, Faces of Meth, The Meth Watch Program, methamphetamine awareness and prevention project, Kansas Methamphetamine Prevention Project, Clandestine laboratory register, and many many more that I will further discuss in my paper.

The major objective that I want to achieve is, to determine the affects of methamphetamine on the user, as well as how it affects family members, children and the crime rate. This will include the roles of the local, state and federal government, communities, and the media. Prevention programs and treatment will also be addressed.

Since the 19th century when Americans first discovered new wonder drugs like morphine, heroin, and cocaine, our society has confronted the problem of drug abuse and addiction (DEA).

When the 20th century began, the United States-- with its first drug epidemic--gradually instituted effective restrictions: at home through domestic law enforcement and overseas by a world movement to limit opium and coca crops. By World War II, American drug use had become