Crystal Meth Addiction
Methamphetamine, or commonly known as meth, is an extremely addictive drug. Similar to most drugs, once abused, meth addiction could result to harmful effects towards the user’s body. Upon entering the brain, methamphetamine triggers the rapid release of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine which control feelings of pleasure. It is extremely active in mesolimbic reward pathways of the brain which causes extreme euphoria.
Meth has a stimulating effect on sex, mood, and energy. Meth may cause weight loss and appetite suppression. Also, it gives our body with alertness and the ability to concentrate. Like most drugs, tolerance develops overtime with continuous use of meth. Meth tires out the brain’s store of dopamine and destroys the wiring of dopamine receptors. The pleasurable effect of the drug is not eternal. As the user takes in an increasing amount of the drug due to tolerance, negative effects to the body begin to take place. Users usually elicit poor judgment and dangerous behaviors such as committing petty and violent crimes. To maintain the pleasurable effect of the drug, the user is likely to take in increasing doses which in turn results to the destruction of body organs, mental disorders, and even death. Long-time users of this drug have been known to develop symptoms of psychosis, like paranoia, aggression, hallucinations, and delusions. In addition, physical effects of Methamphetamine use are diarrhea, palpitations, and dizziness, jaw clenching and facial ticks. It also increases the heart rate that it could lead to sudden heart failure. Other consequences include bronchial dilation, dilation of the blood vessels to the skeletal muscles, dilation of pupils and the emptying of the bladder and intestine.
In the United States, methamphetamine addiction is quite common. There are 1.4 million meth users in America, and it does not stop there. The number of users is rising and it seems that the U.S. government is helpless. Meth is readily available and cheap. Meth’s key object is the youth most especially those problematic ones; ravaged by broken homes, neglect and little parental influence. The National Association of Countries report that users are both high school and college students and white and blue collar-workers as well as people in their 20s and 30s who are unemployed.
What pushes people to using meth? Meth is easy to use, cheap, and could work as an energy booster. The immediate but temporary benefits of using meth is the once that greatly attract people to use this drug.
Methamphetamine addiction greatly damages a person’s life. This kind of addiction leads to undesirable and unhealthy behaviors. Moreover, depriving the body from taking in methamphetamine would lead to depression, aggression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, and intense craving for the drug.
Fighting addiction is such a hard and painful thing to do. It is like pulling your hair on your head one by one until nothing is left. Imagine the pain. It is not a one-time thing. Most of all, things work if it is a forced thing. Meth addicts should be first of all, be very eager and determined to fight the addiction and get rid of it for good. The motivation should not come from the people around the meth users. The motivation should come from the self. One should first accept the problem before doing something about it. Quite a number of meth-specific program solutions have been developed. The objective of treatment is to train the addict new skills that will help cope with the user’s drug cravings and prevent relapses. There are different kinds of approaches in treating meth users, either by group or by individual. Treatment allows the patient to see beyond the immediate positive effects of drug use and lead them to see the negative effects that inevitably follow. Moreover, recovered addicts are taught to deal with their lives more successfully, boost their confidence and self-esteem, and set positive personal goals.
One easily gets addicted to something, yet it is so difficult to become “un-addicted” if there is such a word. Addiction is akin to letting go of a loved one, we know that letting it go is the right thing to do, but we find it hard to do it because we know it would hurt so bad. Before anything else, the determination should start with the self.
