Drug info - How much different is meth now than 20 years ago

[Jack916]

After reading a lot of the posts on meth and its effects (especially the negative ones you see in the news. documentaries, etc), I'm curious if it's just way more potent now.
Swim used to snort crank (as it was called) from '90 to about '92 when swim was 20 to 22 years old--female, 5'1 about 100 lbs. swim would do a line or 2 and just be up all night doing dumb shit like playing cards with others who were on it or talking the night away. Now, I hear all this talk about try meth once and you're hooked for life. SWIM honestly never felt she "needed" it--ever. Never felt hooked at all. She would do it sometimes at a party but a lot of the times she would say no. SWIM would say she used it maybe 2 weekends a month for about a year and then maybe once every 2 months until she finally stopped for good. A few times (SWIM would say 4 or 5) during this time she may have stayed up from friday morning to Sunday night because swim wouldn't sleep after partying and have to go to work and then want to go party the next day. That's about as bad as it got. Honestly it just didn't make swim tired and made time pass where I could focus on something for a very long time. Or it made swim talk a lot about things like planning my entire life right then and there.
swim never got the intense sexual cravings and euphoria or whatever I read about. It was all powder and always snorted. honestly after reading the adderall forums it seems like exactly what they are describing more than here. The bad effects swim got were actually only later in life (maybe 5 years) when swim had nightmares about doing it and staying up all night and had insomnia for about year.
Now I see how people are hooked instantly for life, or how it's extremely hard to get off of. You see people stealing stuff and hurting people or whatever to get more. Back then there maybe 15 people i knew really well who were using it like swim (usually a little more) but not one of them ever got hooked. They all basically stopped around the same time, got married, had kids and live normal lives. That's not even counting the random people that would be around doing it that we kind of knew.
I honestly didnt even know crystal meth and crank were the same thing until recently. I've heard about the meth epidemic or whatever for some time now but never even realized it was what I did because it really didnt seem like that big of a deal. Since it's a "crystal" form now, is it that much stronger?
If swim were to snort it today, would it be more intense? Do they still sell/make the powder stuff?

Reputation Comments on this post:

swim and "I" are all mixed together

[old hippie 56]

Personally for this cowboy, the dope today is more cleaner and the high is different. When swim started way back yonder, the high lasted longer and the comedown wasn't so damn hard. Now, and maybe due to the age difference, time frame is shorter and the crash is terrible.

[Codehead]

Maybe the crank was just normal amphetamine?

[JCJC]

Originally Posted by Codehead

Maybe the crank was just normal amphetamine?

I don't mean to patronise but this was my thought too.

Amphetamine, whilst still addictive is not the beast that is methamphetamine.

[Jack916]

Originally Posted by JCJC

I don't mean to patronise but this was my thought too.

Amphetamine, whilst still addictive is not the beast that is methamphetamine.

yea i dunno, did that usually come in powdered form though (as opposed to a pill)? can you tell the difference by looking at it? Is the difference just the intensity? I got some of the effects, like i couldnt sleep for 12 hours at least, sometimes a day or 2 from just one line. but i NEVER felt addicted. Never had the ugre to do it alone or go try to buy it. Actually I was just a stupid kid and would only really do it when some friends would say something like let's go into the bathroom and do a line. And I'd just say okay. No sexual euphoria reeally either. I did feel like I could plan my life out right there, talked a lot and fast, etc. It did have the burn and the drip i read about here. It just seemed like something I would do so that I could party longer on the weekends

[gmeziscool2354]

that meth group off off the amine in PEA's is significant in altering it's psychoactivity, but this post does not sound like anything out of the ordinary. This was also swiys experience, tho he had some shit that he later learned consisted primarily of the Levo stereo isomer of the molecule, which tends to produce less euphoria. swim does not believe that there is any drug so good that "one use leads to life addiction" or such as the myths lead to

he doesn't know enough about the scene, as he stays away from most of the illegal bulk manufacturing of ampetamines as it sketches him out (he is a chemist and wishes to not get associated with that type of a)z

[SmokeRings]

SWIM has the same background as OP, and started using again about 6 months ago. SWIM only snorted back in the day. SWIM only smokes now, has no desire for the burn or drainage. Smoking is very different than snorting, at least to SWIM.

The high is different for her, and since she is using in a different method, it's hard to say if it's better or worse. SWIM does think the "chunks" are better than the shake/powder, but that could quite possibly be all in her head. Placebo if you will.

SWIM would also like to point out that there weren't thinks like these forums 20 years ago, so there's a lot more "voice" on the subject now, hence all the scare tactics and "one hit and your hooked". Harder drugs always get the uber mystique of being what will send you to "the pits of hell".

Everyone is different, everyone reacts differently to drugs. SWIM is a firm believer in mind over matter. You are an addict if you allow yourself to be. SWIM isn't in denial that addiction is real and bad and awful, don't get her wrong, she just thinks people judge based on fear and stereotypes. Good job "war on drugs", good job!

[Screecher]

Originally Posted by SmokeRings

SWIM has the same background as OP, and started using again about 6 months ago. SWIM only snorted back in the day. SWIM only smokes now, has no desire for the burn or drainage. Smoking is very different than snorting, at least to SWIM.

Swim agrees entirely. Swim has snorted coke and sorted crystal (ouch), and snorting just doesn't seem to hit Swim nearly as quickly or as powerfully as smoking. Swim thinks it's because the drug is carried faster from the lungs into the blood and to the brain than when it's snorted. But Swim really isn't any kind of specialist in anatomy at all, so this is purely Swim's speculation.

Swim also believes that yes, the drugs today are much more potent than they've ever been before (Swim's parents even told her so), but it also does have to do with propaganda. The widespread awareness of meth's "dangers" has increased dramatically, and it's not that the intentions of the propaganda aren't sound, but Swim believes that discovery and exploration are natural human rights.

And after being on almost every kind of drug scene imaginable, Swim has come to believe that each person really should decide what works best for them, while always keeping a head on their shoulders. Expand your world, of course, but be smart about it!

...and Swim didn't mean for this reply to be so long and preachy (O.O)

[sasafrass]

20 years ago the major route to manufacture was P-2-P and methylamine. This made a dextro/levo mix of meth. For analogy's sake call dextro your right hand, (if your right handed) and levo your left hand. Most of the activity is in the dextro isomer. Its stronger meth.
When controls on P-2-P were tightened, and ephredrine/pseudo became the new bootleg route, it produces opticly pure dextromethamphetamine. This is why anyone who remembers both the old benzedrine vs. dexedrine remembers dex was stronger. Benzedrine was a 50% dextro/levo mix of amphetamine. Dexedrine is, well, all dextro. Scripted Desoxyn is pure dextro meth too.
So yes, most clean street meth today is twice as strong as it used to be. The DEA kinda shot itself in the foot when it restricted P-2-P. Street meth only became stronger, and made a come back in a big way. Stronger is not always better. There are those in R&D who think a mix of isomers makes for a smoother product, and less rough come down. Adderall, the product thats made Shire rich, is a 75% dextro/25% levo mix that most anyone prefers over Ritalin or Dexedrine. A kinda interesting sidenote, Adderall used to be called Obetrol, and was sold, obviously, for weight control. And it was a isomer mix of meth back then. What makes it a bit different is its not a pure sulfate like dexedrine, or a hcl. like meth usually is. Its formed more as "sugars" i.e. asparate and saccarate. Why it tastes kinda sweet. Shire bought the old patent and, as they say, the rest is history.
The one dose and your hooked is clearly propaganda. I know someone who's been scripted 60 mg. of adderall a day for more than a decade. He holds a job, and doesn't kick his dog or beat his wife when he comes home. The route of administration is the most universially accepted indicator for addiction. One can walk away from snorting coke easier than crack, and the same can be said for smoking meth. The abuser is more addicted to the rush than the drug, per say.
Meth does suffer from the same problem a herion. The methyl group, like the acetyl groups on a herion molecule, allow more to pass the blood/brain barrier, and I believe faster. If one has the self desipline to do half as much meth as regular amphetamine, or half as much herion as morphine, they can often avoid the downward spirial, unless they're just predisposed to abuse.
U.S. military, from pilots to special forces, have used dexedrine on many occassions, and ativan or the like at the end of a long mission. It just doesn't get much press.

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Great illicit & prescription drug history and clandestine chemical lessons all in one post.