Crystal methamphetamine, which is also known as crystal meth or just meth, is a version of the drug methamphetamine, which is a crystalline drug that can be taken by snorting, smoking or injecting it.
Apr 18, 2018 Usually, if we are playing sports, our sweat has ammonia, but if we do meth, we will sweat metabolites of meth, which stinks. The stink is from the chemicals. A shower can help here, but it would remove what’s outside the skin, so after the shower, we will start stinking again. Meth Lab Chemicals. There is more than one way to cook meth, but if you see or smell these chemicals together, they might indicate a meth lab. Since these chemicals give off unpleasant and toxic fumes, you might see some sort of ventilation intended to blow the vapors out of the building, like a chimney or fans.
When someone takes meth, it creates a euphoric rush, also known as a high. This feeling includes an intense sense of happiness, well-being, and confidence, as well as energy and sociability. When people take meth, it also diminishes their appetite.
Understanding Meth
The effects of crystal meth will usually last around six to eight hours, but in some cases, the effects can extend for up to 24 hours.
Meth is an illegal drug that’s classified in the same way as cocaine because it’s a stimulant, and it’s often used as a club or party drug because of the energy and euphoria it creates, allowing people to dance or stay up for long periods of time.
Meth is incredibly dangerous and addictive, and many people say they become addicted to it after trying it once. Meth is a synthetic drug made from chemicals, and it’s associated not just with the high people seek out, but also with very serious and frequently deadly mental and physical health problems.
Meth can lead to aggression and psychotic or delusional behaviors that can play a role in a person hurting themselves or someone else. It can also damage the brain and heart, along with almost every other part of a person’s body.
What is Meth Made Of?
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One of the primary reasons meth is so dangerous is because of the ingredients it can include. That’s also why a lot of answering, “What does meth smell like?” relies on an understanding of how it’s made. It’s a process called cooking that leads to the creation of meth, and it begins with extracting ephedrine or pseudoephedrine from cold or diet medicines. Then there’s a chemical reaction that can occur by adding ingredients such as ammonia and lithium, and a solvent is then added to extract the meth. Acidic gas that goes through the meth then creates the crystals.
Most of the meth that’s illicitly purchased and used in the U.S. is made in domestic labs, whether large or small, and some is also made in Mexico. As part of the Combat Methamphetamine Act of 2005, Congress set requirements that retailers and pharmacies track the purchase of products frequently used to make the drug such as pseudoephedrine. There are also limits on how much of certain over-the-counter medicines people can purchase in one day as a result.
The process of making meth is dangerous, as is using the drug, and the materials are not just toxic but also flammable and explosive.
- Some of the ingredients that may be used to make meth include:
- Acetone, which is found in nail polish remover and paint thinner
- Anhydrous ammonia found in cleaners and fertilizer
- Hydrochloric acid which is corrosive and can eat away at flesh
- Lithium which is explosive and is found in batteries and can also cause burns to the skin
- Red phosphorous which is found in explosives and is very flammable
- Sulfuric acid, which is commonly used in drain cleaner and toilet cleaner and can burn skin
What Does Meth Smell Like?
As a result of the materials used, meth can smell like powerful chemicals. For example, signs of a meth lab can include smells of paint or something that’s often called a “hospital smell,” because of the powerful chemical cleaners used in medical facilities. In some cases, meth smells like vinegar or ammonia, which is an odor similar to window cleaners.
What about answering what does meth smell like when it’s smoked? This is a bit harder to define. The smells above, which are strong and often apparent are associated with meth labs, but when meth is smoked, it tends to have a lighter, more subtle and almost sweet smell.
How to Spot a Meth Lab
People may have their suspicions about friends or neighbors and wonder not only what does meth smell like, but how to spot a meth lab.
Along with smells, some of the signs of a meth lab can include odd activity at late night hours, people who seem to be unemployed but appear to have no problem paying bills, people who seem paranoid, or homes where there are frequent visitors throughout the day and night hours. The curtains of a meth lab may often be drawn, or people might go outside to smoke a cigarette rather than doing it in the house.
There may also be dead spots in the lawn because of dumping chemicals or waste, or there could be a lot of bottles and containers in the garbage.
Of course, these signs don’t have to mean a meth lab is present, but they are some of the red flags law enforcement officers often look for.
There are several different types of amphetamines, which are stimulants. Crystal methamphetamine or simply 'crystal meth' is an illegal form of the drug. Here's what you need to know.
What Is Crystal Meth?
The chemical n-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-2-amine is called methamphetamine, methylamphetamine, or desoxyephedrine. The shortened name is simply 'meth'. When it is in its crystalline form, the drug is called crystal meth, ice, Tina, or glass. See the table below for other street names of the drug. Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant.
How Is Crystal Meth Used?
Usually, crystal meth is smoked in glass pipes, similar to how crack cocaine is used. It may be injected (either dry or dissolved in water), snorted, swallowed, or inserted into the anus or urethra.
Why Is Crystal Meth Used?
Females often take crystal meth because it can cause extremely rapid weight loss. However, the effects are short term. The body builds up a tolerance to the drug so weight loss tapers off and stops around six weeks after taking the drug. Also, the weight that is lost is regained once a person stops taking methamphetamine. For these reasons, combined with how addictive the drug is, methamphetamine tends not to be prescribed by doctors for weight loss.
Some people take meth because of the long-lasting high that it gives. Methamphetamine causes numerous neurotransmitters to be released in the brain, producing a sense of euphoria that may last as long as 12 hours, depending on how the drug was taken.
Methamphetamine is popular as a stimulant. As a stimulant, methamphetamine improves concentration, energy, and alertness while decreasing appetite and fatigue.
Methamphetamines are also taken by people who are feeling depressed. They may be taken for their side effect of increasing libido and sexual pleasure.
What Are the Effects of Methamphetamine Use?
This is a list of effects associated with pure methamphetamine use. Because of how it's made, crystal meth is never pure, so the dangers associated with taking the street drug extend beyond these effects.
Common Immediate Effects
- Euphoria
- Increased energy and alertness
- Diarrhea and nausea
- Excessive sweating
- Loss of appetite, insomnia, tremors, jaw-clenching
- Agitation, irritability, talkativeness, panic, compulsive fascination with repetitive tasks, violence, confusion
- Increased libido
- Increased blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, blood sugar levels, bronchodilation
- Constriction of the walls of the arteries
- In pregnant and nursing women, methamphetamine crosses the placenta and is secreted in breast milk
Effects Associated With Chronic Use
- Tolerance (needing more of the drug to get the same effect)
- Drug craving
- Temporary weight loss
- Withdrawal symptoms including depression and anhedonia
- 'Meth Mouth' where teeth rapidly decay and fall out
- Drug-related psychosis (may last for months or years after drug use is discontinued)
Effects of Overdose
- Brain damage
- Sensation of flesh crawling (formication)
- Paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, tension headache
- Muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis) which can lead to kidney damage or failure
- Death due to stroke, cardiac arrest or elevated body temperature (hyperthermia)
Physical and Chemical Properties of Crystal Meth
- Crystal meth may be distinguished from other drugs and compounds by its properties. The compound forms two enantiomers (compounds which are mirror images of each other), dextromethamphetamine and levomethamphetamine.
- Methamphetamine hydrochloride salt is a white crystal or crystalline powder at room temperature that is bitter-tasting and odorless, with a melting point between 170 to 175 °C (338 to 347 °F). It readily dissolves in water and ethanol.
- The free base of methamphetamine is a clear liquid that smells like geranium leaves. It dissolves in ethanol or diethyl ether and mixes with chloroform.
- Although crystal meth is a persistent pollutant in soils, it is degraded by bleach or within 30 days in wastewater that is exposed to light.
Where Does Crystal Meth Come From?
Methamphetamine is available with a prescription for obesity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and narcolepsy, but crystal meth is a street drug, made in illegal labs by chemically altering over-the-counter drugs. Making crystal meth usually involves reducing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, found in cold and allergy medicine. In the US, a typical meth lab employs something called the 'Red, White, and Blue Process', which entails hydrogenation of the hydroxyl group on the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine molecule. The red is red phosphorus, white is the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, and blue is iodine, used to make hydroiodic acid. Making crystal meth is dangerous to the people making it and dangerous to the neighborhood where it's being made. White phosphorus with sodium hydroxide can produce poisonous phosphine gas, usually as a result of overheating red phosphorus, plus white phosphorus can auto ignite and blow up the meth lab. In addition to phosphine and phosphorus, various hazardous vapors may be associated with a meth lab, such as chloroform, ether, acetone, ammonia, hydrochloric acid, methylamine, iodine, hydroiodic acid, lithium or sodium, mercury, and hydrogen gas.
Street Names for Crystal Meth
Crystal meth goes by a number of names:
- Batu
- Biker's Coffee
- Black Beauties
- Blade
- Chalk
- Chicken Feed
- Crank
- Cristy
- Crystal
- Crystal Glass
- Crystal Meth
- Glass
- Go-Fast
- Hanyak
- Hiropon
- Hot Ice
- Ice
- Kaksonjae
- L.A. Glass
- L.A. Ice
- Meth
- Methlies Quick
- Poor Man's Cocaine
- Quartz
- Shabu
- Shards
- Speed
- Stove Top
- Super Ice
- Tina
- Trash
- Tweak
- Uppers
- Ventana
- Vidrio
- Yaba
- Yellow Bam