Methamphetamine Effects

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Recommended: Effects of pure methamphetamine in the body

Nikki Lewis
Mr. Boothby
Honors Biology B3
May 10th, 2014
Effects of Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is an extremely addictive stimulant. It has many different names such as meth, crystal, chalk and ice. Methamphetamine comes in the form of a white, odorless, bitter-tasting, crystalline powder and it can be consumed orally, smoked, snorted, absorbed through the skin, or dissolved in alcohol or water and then injected. It can also be brown, yellow, grey, orange or pink and can also be compressed into pill form. Repeated use of meth can lead to addiction. Users often smoke or inject meth because it delivers it quickly to the brain where an almost instant euphoria occurs. However, the pleasure soon fades and users follow a “binge and crash” pattern. The drug increases the amount of neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain which creates the feeling of pleasure. The dopamine is released rapidly which causes users to feel a rush.
There are multiple stages of the experience of taking meth. The first stage is called the rush. The rush is the initial response to the drug and occurs when the heartbeat speeds up and the body’s metabolism and blood pressure soar. This stage of the experience can last for up to thirty minutes. The next stage is the high which is when the user feels aggressively smarter and often will become extremely argumentative. The user may may experience delusions and will become focused on insignificant objects. This stage can last for as long as sixteen hours. Following the high, the user enters a stage called the binge. During the binging stage, the user consumes drugs or alcohol uncontrollably and has an urge to maintain their high by consuming more meth. The user becomes mentally and physically hyperac...

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...roughout the brain. The effects of methamphetamine were proven to be more severe than the effects of cocaine, heroin or alcohol.
Another study was performed at the Society for Neuroscience and their research showed that use of this drug causes long-term damage to dopaminergic and serotonergic fiber pathways in the brain. Methamphetamine causes dopamine from vesicular storage pools to be released into the cytoplasm where it can be oxidized to produce neurotoxins and additional reactive oxygen species that cause neurite degeneration. Very few imaging studies have been conducted in abusers of meth. However, detailed MRIs of users brain’s have been studied and compared to the brain of a person who does not use the drug. The researchers hypothesized that we might find deficits in the temporal lobe structures that support learning and memory, including the hippocampus.

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