With amphetamine placed under federal control, illegal drug suppliers found that ephedrine, used in over-the-counter cold medicine, produces methamphetamine, according to Frontline. It didn’t take long for crystal meth to become “discovered” in the 1980s. According to the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, the substance is often made in illegal makeshift meth labs within homes, cabins, cars, shacks, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ motels, etc. The ignitable, corrosive and toxic nature of the chemicals used to create crystal meth can cause fires, produce toxic vapors and wreak havoc on the environment. Learn more about the risks and side effects of substance use disorders, including the signs of intoxication or overdose. Coming down can cause difficult emotional and physical symptoms, such as depression and insomnia.

The 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) points out approximately 1.2 million people have reported using methamphetamine in the past year. Of that 1.2 million, only 440,000 reported using it in the past month. Ark Behavioral Health offers 100% confidential substance abuse assessment and treatment placement tailored to your individual needs. Your body eventually adapts to higher levels of dopamine, causing a “binge and crash” cycle.

What Does Meth Do To Your Body? Short-Term & Long-Term Physical Effects Of Meth Addiction

The high may linger a little longer if you snort or swallow the drug, lasting up to 12 hours or longer. The duration may differ for you depending on how often you use meth. Meth is typically a white pill or powder that doesn’t have a smell but tastes bitter. Crystal methamphetamine usually looks like glass chunks or shiny bluish-white rocks. If crystal meth comes as more of a powder, it’ll have a bitter taste like other kinds of meth. Scientists in the early 20th century developed it in an effort to improve the medication amphetamine.

Meth is processed more slowly than many other amphetamines and stimulants like cocaine. The crash can be lengthy for chronic abusers, and bingeing episodes can last for several days or longer. Meth blocks the removal of dopamine from your system by stopping reuptake, a natural process by which excessive dopamine is taken out of the synapse and reabsorbed by the nerve cell that it came from. This causes a build up of dopamine, allowing more of it to bind with dopamine receptors.

More on Substance Abuse and Addiction

According to the 2020 United Nations World Drug Report, around 27 million people worldwide (corresponding to 0.5% of the adult population) used amphetamines, including METH, amphetamine, and pharmaceutical stimulants, in the past year. Overall, there has been an approximately 40% increase in METH use in the United States between 2016 and 2018 and a further increase between 2018 and 2019 [5]. In the US, 0.7% of the population aged 12 and older, or 1.9 million people, reported meth dependence the use of METH. METH use declined among young adults (aged 18–25), but increased significantly among adults aged 26 and older from 0.5% (or 1.1 million people) in 2016 to 0.8% (or 1.7 million people) in 2019 (Fig. ​1A1A) [8]. A recent cross-sectional study among a million patients showed a 486.7% increase in METH positive urine from 2013 to 2019 in the US [9]. The effects of methamphetamine can last for many hours, and it can take up to 4 days to leave a person’s body.