Due to its strong pleasurable effects, METH is abused worldwide and METH use disorder (MUD) is a worldwide health problem. METH-induced disorders include anxiety, depression, cognitive impairments, insomnia and psychosis. In addition, chronic METH use is a risk factor for developing Parkinson’s disease. The drug also makes dramatic changes to your brain structure in a very short time, which can lead you to keep using it despite any negative consequences on your life, health, and relationships. This change in behavior is known as meth addiction, or methamphetamine use disorder.
Recognizing unhealthy drug use in family members
Among adults aged 26 or older, the percentage with a past-year MUD increased from 0.3% (or 539,000 people) in 2016 to 0.4% (or 904,000 people) in 2019 (Fig.1B) 8. Similarly, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a recent increase in METH-related overdose deaths during the pandemic 11. Contingency management rewards patients who are addicted to methamphetamine when they provide drug-free urine samples. Patients who abuse methamphetamine also may benefit from support groups or 12-step drug treatment programs. The model incorporates CBT, CM, 12-steps, and motivational interviewing therapy.
How to Recognize and Treat Meth Addiction
Unlike cocaine, methamphetamine is not smuggled into the United States by drug traffickers. Illicit manufacturers use easily available ingredients to quickly set up crude laboratories and move on when they are threatened. Production releases poisonous gases and results in toxic waste that is often dumped down household drains, in a backyard, or at a roadside. Over-the-counter cold medicines (ephedrine and pseudoephedrine) are commonly used in production, which is one reason for federal and meth abuse state restrictions on their sale. Methamphetamine also harms important nerve pathways, perhaps irreversibly. The drug delivers euphoria by releasing the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain’s reward system.
3. Prevalence of Methamphetamine Abuse
The addicting drug causes physical changes to some nerve cells (neurons) in your brain. During the intervention, these people gather together to have a direct, heart-to-heart conversation with the person about the consequences of addiction. People use cannabis by smoking, eating or inhaling a vaporized form of the drug. Cannabis often precedes or is used along with other substances, such as alcohol or illegal drugs, and is often the first drug tried. Drug addiction can start with experimental use of a recreational drug in social situations, and, for some people, the drug use becomes more frequent.
- In the US, 0.7% of the population aged 12 and older, or 1.9 million people, reported the use of METH.
- Methamphetamine addiction can wreak havoc on a person’s life, affecting their physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral well-being.
- Read below for a summary of the signs and symptoms (National Harm Reduction Coalition, n.d.-a, n.d.-b).
- The Matrix model therapy has been effective in reducing METH use and craving during treatment and has shown somewhat better retention and abstinence rates than other behavioral interventions 74.
2.1. Ineffective Pharmacotherapies for Methamphetamine Use Disorder
- In the past, middle-aged white people used this cheap drug most often.
- They included medications targeting opioid, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) or the cholinergic system.
- As your drug use increases, you may find that it’s increasingly difficult to go without the drug.
- Combination of psychotherapy with active immunotherapy is likely to decrease METH intake as well as relapse once anti-METH vaccine is developed.
- These findings implicate a compromised nigrostriatal pathway in individuals heavily dependent on METH.
- Patients in the ER for methamphetamine should be screened for opioid use and other substance use disorders (SUDs) and given harm reduction supplies like naloxone.
Individuals also learn new constructive ways to pass time and engage in a sober lifestyle within inpatient (residential) treatment. Methamphetamine addiction can wreak havoc on a person’s life, affecting their physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral well-being. Even if a meth overdose does not lead to fatal results, organ damage can occur from the body overheating. For those with HIV/AIDS, meth abuse can cause the disease to progress more quickly, leading to a snowball effect of health consequences. Others may abuse meth alongside other drugs, such as other depressants like alcohol or heroin, looking for combined effects.
Meth addiction treatment works to restore physical and psychological health, teaching individuals ways to modify behavior and change lifestyles for a lasting recovery. A few recent reviews of medications tested for MUD between 2000 and 2020 have provided exhaustive information on different classes of medications that have been examined and the results of their clinical trials . No medication provided sufficient evidence to promote its use in the routine clinical management of MUD. Table 1 provides an alphabetical list of medications tested in randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials for MUD based on the reviews and ClinicalTrials.gov website.
How Habit-Forming or Addictive Is Methamphetamine?
Stimulants include amphetamines, meth (methamphetamine), cocaine, methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, others) and amphetamine-dextroamphetamine (Adderall XR, Mydayis). They’re often used and misused in search of a “high,” or to boost energy, to improve performance at work or school, or to lose weight or control Sober living house appetite. Drugs that either depress or stimulate the central nervous system have long been used for nonmedical reasons. Depressants include all sedatives and hypnotics such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines (minor tranquilizers). The main stimulants are amphetamines or their derivatives and cocaine, a natural component of the leaves of the coca plant.