AHS Views

Drug dealers and methamphetamine users have now found a new way to make meth – one that evades detection by authorities and reduces the cost of meth, making it even more available. Another good reason to get anyone who is already using meth, or is using drugs at all (which makes them more prone to using meth), into an addiction help program as soon as possible.

Meth is one of the worst drugs around. It is highly addictive, causes rapid deterioration of the body and mind, and is associated with a lot of crime. People on meth are a mess, they are definitely not themselves. Physically, the toll meth takes is so dramatic that a parent would be hard-pressed to recognize their son or daughter after only a year of use. Mentally, they are scattered, anxious and, as they use more and more, focused on one thing – the drug.

Some of the damage can be irreversible. Again, drug rehab is the answer. And it can’t be one of those programs that basically just helps you dry out and then sends you to meetings. The chances of that working with a meth addict are virtually nil. They need the real thing – residential treatment that helps get the meth out of the body, focuses on restoring the person’s health, finds and addresses the reasons they’re doing drugs and ensures they have a good handle on the environment they’ll be going into when they leave the program.

Busting meth labs is one of the ways authorities try to control meth. In fact, the number of meth labs located and closed down is an important statistic. The labs in themselves are extremely dangerous places, they exude poisonous fumes and can quite easily blow up..

The fumes have a very distinct and unpleasant smell, making them fairly easy to locate – as long as someone nearby notices and reports it.

Now the makers of meth have found a way to get around the smelly lab problem. They have a new process known as “Shake and Bake.” This method allows the drug to be made in smaller doses and without ‘cooking’ it. All you need is a soda bottle, some household chemicals and cold pills from the drug store, and it requires fewer cold pills than the cook method.

Not that it can’t still blow up. In fact, there’s an even greater chance of explosion and that explosion would be even more damaging since, as one journalist put it, “they’re holding the bomb in their hand.”

It can be made virtually anywhere, at any time.

Some areas of the country are seeing a rise in meth addicts because of it, and that rise is being anticipated across the country as more and more people start using this method.

If you hear someone in your household talking about Shake and Bake – one of your kids, or their friends – they might not be talking about chicken. Take heed, and get them addiction help right away. If they didn’t need it, they wouldn’t even be talking about it.

I read an article this morning about meth lab busts in ‘Miami County.’ When I first saw the headline I read ‘Miami,’ but didn’t really notice the ‘County.’ I then discovered they were talking about Miami County, Indiana! Big surprise. An even bigger surprise was the number of meth lab busts in Indiana - 1,059 in 2008.  That’s nearly three a day!!

Meth is nasty. Check out the photos on the Faces of Meth site and you’ll see what I mean. Severe deterioration – some of it irreversible – within just months of using it. And the damage isn’t just external, the brain and other organs get really messed up.

You can imagine how many meth addicts there are in Indiana, and how many faces will soon look like those, if they don’t already. A thousand meth labs can support a lot of drug habits!! Who would have thought you’d find that kind of drug abuse in Indiana of all places?!

If you know someone on meth, getting them into a meth rehab center as quickly as possible will help make sure that their face doesn’t turn into what you see on the Faces of Meth site.