In recent years amphetamine, particularly METH (methamphetamine), has received considerable, negative media attention. You may read about police raiding a secret METH lab in your local newspaper, hear that METH is stealing our youth in a news report, or see anti-drug commercials portraying the dark and destructive forces of METH abuse. What you are unlikely to see are reports highlighting the benefits of METH. Yes, I used the words benefit and METH in the same sentence. While METH is relentlessly demonized in main stream media as the the devil’s drug, a less satanic perspective has been taken up by many neuroscientists.
METH is a potent stimulant that is best known to increase mood and boost energy. As it turns out, neuroscientists have been using METH for decades –no, not as a way to stay awake during those long and boring scientific lectures, but as a powerful tool to better understand brain function and dysfunction. METH increases brain function, improves attention, enhances mood, reduces appetite and fatigue, and alters motor coordination. However at higher doses, like those taken by METH addicts, METH can produce anxiety, paranoia, heart problems, disrupted thought processes, brain damage, and even death. Because of this diverse and wide range of effects, researchers are using the drug to gain a better understanding of how the brain works and what happens when it doesn’t work so well.
For example, to understand the relationship between brain function and learning, researchers administer various doses of the drug to human or animal subjects. Interestingly, METH is able to enhance or impair cognitive processes like learning and memory, depending on the amount ingested. High doses of METH disrupt normal brain function and lead to forgetfulness and confusion, while more moderate doses actually enhance people’s performance across a range of tasks. The paradoxical effects METH has on learning and memory have to do with neurochemicals targeted by METH (e.g., dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine). Each of these neurochemicals contributes to our ability to learn and remember information. At lower doses, METH increases these neurochemicals in the brain, which is thought to increase attention, learning, and memory. On the other hand, METH abuse actually damages the neurons that make and release these neurochemicals.
Because of the damaging effects, METH has also been used as a tool for understanding movement disorders like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. The death of dopamine neurons as we age contributes to poor initiation/coordination of movements. In the advanced stages of these diseases, some patients lose the ability to walk and also develop dementia. METH jumpstarts dopamine activity in the brain and, if administered appropriately, produces similar effects on brain activity as medications currently used to treat these disorders, like l-DOPA. Understanding how METH interacts with neurochemicals important to cognition and movement will inevitably put researchers in a better position to develop medications to treat or even cure these diseases.
Millions of people worldwide are suffering from psychiatric disorders that disrupt their ability to think, feel, and move. With the help of METH, neuroscientists may one day be able to save these individuals and their families from the despair and devastation that stems from disorders like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, ADHD, depression, and even schizophrenia. Believe it or not, METH is already a FDA-approved medication for ADHD treatment under the trade name Desoxyn®. Nonetheless, we mustn’t forget that millions of people abuse METH each year, and that addiction shatters lives. Therefore, we should be cautious about how and when the drug is used. However, the addictive properties of the drug should not open the flood gates for propaganda, scare tactics and outright public denouncement. These approaches threaten drug research, leading to condemnation of objective research efforts before the beneficial and medicinal properties of drugs are ever revealed. There are numerous drugs that, because of propaganda and scare tactics, have endured similar tragedies as METH (e.g., LSD, ecstasy, psychedelics, opiates, marijuana, etc). A more informed open dialogue about METH’s diverse properties, both beneficial and destructive, is the ideal way to get the word out on drugs like METH and open the possibility of positive interventions for those suffering from debilitating illnesses.
Cruickshank, C., & Dyer, K. (2009). A review of the clinical pharmacology of methamphetamine Addiction, 104 (7), 1085-1099 DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02564.x
Hart, C., Gunderson, E., Perez, A., Kirkpatrick, M., Thurmond, A., Comer, S., & Foltin, R. (2007). Acute Physiological and Behavioral Effects of Intranasal Methamphetamine in Humans Neuropsychopharmacology, 33 (8), 1847-1855 DOI: 10.1038/sj.npp.1301578
Thank you. I’ve occassionally used small amounts of meth to help me with depression and other disorders and my life blossomed- not crashed. My skin cleared up, and I was in the best shape of my life. My relationships flourished as I wasn’t isolated and scared of socialization anymore. Everything in moderation! I think all of the obesity out there shows what can happen when something positive (food) becomes an addiction – that too can destroy lives and is probably affecting exponentially more lives than this stimulant. Small amounts also helped my writer’s block and I could once again make music, art… Smile, laugh, and be a generous, loving being. As with everything, be watchful of yourself – of when and why you do it – and be honest with yourself about any negative impacts it may start to have.
Also – initially when I fell into a deep depression the doctor’s put me on “Celexa” or citalopram. I have never experienced worse effects or a more long withdrawal than from that drug. It changed my personality and just made me feel full of rage. I am so distraught about all of the people who are being but on these psychotropic drugs that scientists “do not fully understand how they work”. I still do not have my memory back like before trying antidepressants. Why is that psychotropic substance a “cure” and meth a “bad drug”? Because one numbs you and the other opens your mind and makes you connect with other – and just like LSD – they banned it. We can’t have people feeling connected when we’re trying to divide and conquer them!
I did my studies in Consciousness and I highly recommend the book Alterations of Consciousness by Imants Baruss. Some great unbiased reading on the effects of substances.
Thanks again
why do scientist or doctor and psychiatrist perscribed or prohibet this drugs when they actually don’t use and experience it!dumb ass!!!
scientist/doctor/psychiatrist can’t try and experience every single drug they use – they would probably die from the adverse effects of using so many different drugs.
I’ve been smoking meth for 6 years now, two weeks on then two weeks off. The benefits I found shocked me. I’m 40yrs old and have had back surgery 3 times. I found meth to be the best pain killer I’ve ever taken and I’ve taken a few. I’ve have also grown up with cronic hayfever, absolutely disappears while on meth. Boredom, depression and any emotional pain also ceases to exsist on meth. Mind you if it’s not used in moderation all these benefits start to subside. Meth has increased my intelligence ten fold. I can sit down and finish a crossword in half the time it would take me sober. I also enjoy playing any word games on it, tho sober I don’t enjoy these games and never have. Normally I have no patience at all. The bedroom is where I enjoy the benefits the most. Instead of my girl not being satisfied because I was finished so quick, the opposite would occur. Coming down from the drug, or after a 4 day binge was when I got extremely horny. Some people like to mix Viagra with it, which probably isn’t recomended, but works a treat. I was always over weight now I am my ideal weight, which also helps my back problems. I worked in the film industry for 16yrs. 12hr days are the norm, sometimes alot longer.I also had to drive long distances. I hated getting up at 4am and driving for 4 hrs a day, never got used to it. This was torture to me, I’ve always been a tired person, who loved to sleep up to 12 hrs if I had the time. Getting up, working and driving actually became enjoyable. I was a Unit Manager on Film crews, so I had to give a lot of orders and excert my authority, other wise be walked over. Meth made me the best I could be at my job.I wasn’t grumpy, nervous, tired or in as much pain as I used to be.It’s certainly made me a smarter, slimmer more confident person.I made a concious effort to keep brushing my teeth everyday and using mosturiser daily also. I won’t use it everyday simply because all of these benefits will cease to exist. I still have my teeth and don’t have a blemish on my skin. What its doing to my insides I’m not sure, sure won’t be any benefits there. I won’t stay awake more than 3 days straight, things start to fall apart for me after 4 days which I did a few times. I haven’t had the flu in the last 6 years either. I still get all the enjoyable effects from taking meth that I did when I started. BUT remember the key is moderation and not many people can take a drug this addictive and use it moderately. The majority of the general public don’t want to hear about any benefits from crystal meth, hopefully we can use it to help a wide range of people, especially the terminally ill, scared and upset about dying. Their physical and emotional pain can be cut down drastically with the help of meth. I hope common sense prevails and meth isn’t deemed total evil.Remember all drugs are dangerous if not used in moderation.Meth is no different.
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What has your hunting rant got to do with meth?