Methamphetamine has become a huge problem in the United States. In the 80's, during the Miami Vice era, there were the Cocaine Wars, or the Cocaine Cowboys, when millions of pounds of cocaine were entering the country by way of South America. Cocaine was cheaper and more readily available than it is now. In the 90's and thereafter, Methamphetamine (Speed, Crank, Ice, Glass, etc.) has become the drug epidemic that has swept the country. The switch from cocaine to methamphetamine was brought about by several factors. One of the largest contributing factors to the methamphetamine epidemic in this country has been the ease to which it is manufactured and distributed. The Mexican Mafia has been largely responsible for the distribution of methamphetamine across this country. When I was in treatment in the early 90's one of the leaders of the Mexican Mafia was in treatment with me for heroin addiction. He described to me in great detail the extent to which they were organized to distribute and manufacture methamphetamine across the country. Since Speed was my drug of choice, I found the information enlightening, but I never once blamed the Mexican Mafia for my own drug addiction. If "it" had not been speed that eventually brought me to my knees, it would have been cocaine, or alcohol, or something else. The specific drug a person eventually gravitates to is inconsequential to the underlying addiction dilemma and the subsequent treatment of the addiction.

One of the other contributing factors to the speed epidemic in this country was its appeal to the underlying fear young people have been facing for years. Methamphetamine helps give a person the confidence to face any problem and complete any task, at least at first. A person on methamphetamine (speed, glass, crystal meth, crank) is able to focus on a task for hours, the problem is that eventually a person overfocuses on a task and the task become repetitive and nothing gets done. Finally, in the end, methamphetamine will cause a unique form of inertia as I like to call it. The person addicted to speed will spend hours doing something like fixing a car or a radio, cleaning and organizing a garage, or something else and get nothing accomplished. What is more, the person will ignore all other responsibilities because he or she will be hyperfocused on whatever he or she thinks is important at the time.

Finally, one of the things that has most contributed to the Methamphetamine addiction, or epidemic, in America has been the ease to which it is manufactured. Methamphetamine, or speed, can be made anywhere and by anyone. It is a fairly easy process that does not require a chemical engineering degree to accomplish. It is made using a common nasal decongestant ephidrine, or pseudoephedrine, that can be easily purchased and turned into methamphetamine.

Labels: Meth Treatment, Methamphetamine Addiction, Speed