Lax Laws 'Could Turn Nazi Crank Into Global Epidemic'

[motorhead]

UK: Lax Laws 'Could Turn Nazi Crank Into Global Epidemic'
by Richard Ford, Home Correspondent, (01 Mar 2006) Times United Kingdom
A NEW highly addictive drug used in Britain by clubbers and gay men is becoming a global problem, according to a United Nations report published today.

The huge increase in use of methamphetamine - crystal meth - is being helped by lax restrictions on the chemicals used to manufacture it. People who take it can experience a ten-hour high and increased sexual arousal.

Professor Hamid Ghodse, president of a United Nations drug control agency, said: If I want to pick on one major drug problem pandemic today, it is methamphetamine.

It has not yet affected that much of Western European countries and the UK but, as we know, as drug misuse occurs in North America, sooner or later it gets here.

Methamphetamine is todays problem drug. We think that it is extremely worrying.

We are trying to encourage governments to focus on the precursor chemicals used in the drugs manufacture, so that we can try to prevent any wider abuse of methamphetamine.

The drug is known by various names, including ice, meth, tina and Nazi crank. It was first developed in 1919 and used by troops to keep awake. It was rumoured that Hitler injected it twice a day, hence the name Nazi crank.

Introducing the annual report of the UNs International Narcotics Control Board, Professor Ghodse said that crystal meth was now regarded as the No 1 drug problem in North America. He said that the extent of its use in Britain was hidden by the fact that seizures and arrests were included in figures for amphetamines.

Statistics for the amount of crystal meth seized by police and Customs are not collected separately. The Home Office has been alerted to the emerging trend. In November Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, ordered an early warning system to be put in place to determine whether the use of crystal meth was spreading and that drug deaths should be monitored to see whether they were linked with it.

Customs will send all seizures of odourless white powders to forensic labs for analysis and new mental patients with drug problems will be tested to see if they have taken crystal meth.

In November the Governments Advisory Council on Drugs Misuse advised against reclassifying it from Class B to Class A because it could have the unintended consequence of engendering interest among potential users.

The UN report also highlights figures showing that Britons are the highest users of cocaine and big users of cannabis. A report published last November found that 6.8 per cent of adults admitted that they had tried cocaine, compared with 4.9 per cent of Spaniards, the second-largest proportion.

Deaths from cocaine abuse in Britain have reached the highest level since the Government started keeping records. The number of fatalities linked to cocaine abuse almost doubled over four years, to 147 in 2004.

Britain is top of the European league table for cocaine abuse and is fast approaching levels seen in America, the EUs drug agency said last year.

Todays UN report also highlights that drug cartels and suppliers are increasingly using the postal system to smuggle narcotics into Britain.

There has also been a growth in illegal internet suppliers in South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, which sell and send by post restricted medicines, including the sedative diazepam.

[sidebar]

DANGERS OF THE LATEST CRAZE

# Methamphetamine: known as ice, Nazi crank, meth, tina, Christine, yaba and crazy

# Class B drug. Up to 5 years in jail for possession; up to 14 years for dealing

# Snorted, injected, taken in pill form and smoked

# Gives ten-hour high and increases sexual arousal # Reduces tiredness and suppresses appetite

# Popular among gay men

# Used in nightclubs and among immigrants from South-East Asia

# Temporarily blinded the US singer Rufus Wainwright

# Can cause psychosis, heart and lung problems and tooth loss

# Was originally used in nasal decongestants and bronchial inhalers

[Abrad]

Eh.. meth is nearly non-existant in Europe.

[The Dr]

^^^^ i know....its crazy, ive known the term 'crystal meth' for years, and known that, like pcp, its something they do in america. but untill i came on here i didn't even realise it was a kind of speed! it is so uncommon in the uk i don't know how to quantify it - a few years ago many of swims friends were into 'base', but this was just pure amphetamine sulpste afak and swim has certainly never heared of it for sale. The only people swims even met that have taken it did it in australia.

To publicise it like they have by making this announcement is about the stupidest thing they could do. and rather coincidental with swims dreams.

[motorhead]

mmmm this is intereseting. Is it really not that big a deal over there? Ha, I love articles that use words like 'epidemic', 'pandemic', 'crisis' and the like. Keep the facts coming guys and gals. Prohibitionists can be so dramatic lol

[old hippie 56]

If it is a major problem over here, how come they are locking sick medical marijuana users up instead of tweakers? The US probally spent millions just to get Steve Kubby back across the border.

[hazeinmybong2]

Has anyone noticed its all the square states? The square states have the worst problems with speed. It is slowly coming into WI but I still don't see a lot of it. I have noticed cocaine cut with it though.

[davidlaska]

Originally Posted by The Dr

To publicise it like they have by making this announcement is about the stupidest thing they could do. and rather coincidental with swims dreams.

This might not be right to jump into a longer standing members posts though?


Don,t they know that news travels by word of mouth? Just plant the seed,s everywhere with press access. Swim guesses that they think getting it out will result in more people against it and than for it. But that does not mean they will take any action as opposed to swim,s friends who might (anybody could) give it whirl. Maybe they think Swim has no friends. This is just a thought in a dream, not even a opinion.

[motorhead]

[quote=davidlaska]This might not be right to jump into a longer standing members posts though?[quote]

I believe he was just critizing the article itself. There are, basically, two types of media articles: pro-drug and anti-drug. I post both. I like posting anit-drug peices because although they may come from reputable sounding organizations, like the United Nations drug control agency, and print ominous statistics, they invariably are over dramatic and use hyberbole to produce fear and thus an anti-drug climate in the non-drug consuming population.

They will say things like "The huge increase in use of methamphetamine - crystal meth - is being helped by lax restrictions on the chemicals used to manufacture it"
Yet we get members posting back saying there is no meth problem here, what the fuck are they talking about? and it makes you wonder about what the reality of the situation is.

[The Dr]

exactly motorhead - i wasn't criticizing you for posting it - hence why i said 'publicising it like THEY have'.

we will assume that everyone reading this thread already knows about meth, but for the man in the street it would have been fresh news.

Drug laws are just something they do when they want to divert attention from other more pressing issues. but to come up with this declaration that if meth isnt already an epidemic in britain then it soon will be is fu*king rediculous.

i don't know if there was a simmilar point at which they decided that since crack was all the rage in america, there would deffinatly be an epidemic in uk, but i bet there was similar scare tactics.

As it is, yes people in our green and pleasent land do like their fair share of drugs (especially cheap coke) but theres nothing new with that.

And especially since all the OTC cold medicine is now phenylephrine, there is little chance of meth becoming a big thing.

But who knows what SWIM might manage )

[motorhead]

It is funny how it is so regionalized. Here in Canada the meth is big out west. The only chance swim had to try it was from a visiting swim, home from Alberta-the money province. Swim's accociates have been speculating for several years now about when the big 'meth wave' is going to wash over their part of the land.

Currently there are only two real hard drugs of choice that are in common use. Cocaine and crack, this stuff if pretty much everywhere i guess. But the one that is of increasing use is prescription opies and the rising IV use that eventually follows. Heroin can be found, If swim were to look hard enough.

But yet, still no meth. 'But its so easy to make, cheap, its an incredible high, watch out its coming your way!' Bah. I dont know why they keep printing about impending increases in meth use in meth free places, particularly when it is such a distinctly regional substance, and has apparentely, to swim anyways, always been. Perhaps it is spreading, swim isnt familiar with everyplace. But it certainly is not like wildfire.

Swim talks about all this because it brings back memories of his dream when he first found the forum. Swim was very bored, laid off, and had big plans to fill the large meth void. Man was he gonna cash in! lol silly swim and his cabin fever. Meth is NOT easy to make, nor would he feel good about introducing anyone to it. Ha he had a dream the other day when he found the printed text of some interesting storys while tidying his room. Some swim named sitbacknchill had around 800 posts at the time. AAhh memories.

[Beeker]

People who take it can experience a ten-hour high and increased sexual arousal.

Where can I get this wonder drug! They make it sound just maaavolis baby. It couldn't be THAT addictive..

[daeron]

east europe has known meth for decades, but it never reached the fabled epidemic proportions....heroin did on the other hand

[Beeker]

I really do feel there is something different coming out of the meth labs in mexico because people I've known in Texas just go crazy for the stuff to the point of becoming couch hopping homeless super thiefs.

Every day there is a story somewhere in Texas about a very real problem that other states like new york don't have. I honestly do not understand.. crack is a problem up in NY but crack is dead down in texas; meth is a beast here.

I've never seen poor white americans go down as hard as meth users but when I lived in NY the poor white population had problems with H and crack.

Middle class, still humping the ADHD, pain and anxiety meds with alcohol and weed chasers while the rich everywhere are into coke.

On the plus side I haven't had a good friend who smoked Cigarettes in years now.

[kemistudent]

I love how it's the gay men drug. You would think gays would be into a drug that produced fabulous colors like those found in a rainbow..

[Psych0naut]

Meth is very rare in the Netherlands, and so is pcp.Xtc is the most popular drug here, because it's just so damn cheap.We have speed as well, but that's the word we use for amphetamine sulphate, not for methamphetamine.I'm pretty sure meth will stay out of the Netherlands, nasty crap.

[motorhead]

Swim made some inquiries and discovered that meth is available, though not in crazy amounts, where he lives. Pharm opies and cocaine are still number one. The western provinces still have much more prevelant use from what swim sees. Although he did see a story recently about meth becoming more common in an Atlantic region city. I cant see it becoming big in the rural areas though. Swim found it interesting that many of his peers have a blatant mistrust of 'that shit made with drain cleaner', when he talked about meth with them. Eh, maybe they would change their minds after a few hits!