Methamphetamine
For more information on methamphetamine, visit www.MethResources.gov. Methamphetamine is a highly addictive central nervous system stimulant that can be injected, snorted, smoked, or ingested orally. Methamphetamine users feel a short yet intense "rush" when the drug is initially administered. The immediate effects of methamphetamine include increased activity and decreased appetite. The drug has limited medical uses for the treatment of narcolepsy, attention deficit disorders, and obesity.

Most amphetamines distributed to the black market are produced in clandestine laboratories. Methamphetamine laboratories are, by far, the most frequently encountered clandestine laboratories in the United States. The ease of clandestine synthesis, combined with tremendous profits, has resulted in significant availability of illicit methamphetamine. Large amounts of methamphetamine are also illicitly smuggled into the United States from Mexico.

Extent of Use
According to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 10.4 million Americans aged 12 or older used methamphetamine at least once in their lifetimes for nonmedical reasons, representing 4.3% of the U.S. population in that age group. The number of past year methamphetamine users in 2005 was approximately 1.3 million (0.5% of the population aged 12 or older) and the number of past month methamphetamine users was 512,000 (0.2%).

Health Effects
Long-term methamphetamine abuse can cause addiction, anxiety, insomnia, mood disturbances, and violent behavior. Additionally, psychotic symptoms such as paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions (such as the sensation of bugs crawling under the user's skin) can occur. The psychotic symptoms can last for months or years after methamphetamine use has ceased. Of an estimated 106 million emergency department (ED) visits in the U.S. during 2004, the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) estimates that 1,997,993 were drug-related. DAWN data indicate that methamphetamine was involved in 73,400 ED visits.

Treatment
From 1995–2005, the number of admissions to treatment in which methamphetamine was the primary drug of abuse increased from 47,695 in 1995 to 152,368 in 2005. The methamphetamine admissions represented 2.8% of the total drug/alcohol admissions to treatment during 1995 and 8.2% of the treatment admissions in 2005. The average age of those admitted to treatment for methamphetamine/amphetamine during 2005 was 31 years.

Arrests & Sentencing
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported 6,090 methamphetamine-related arrests during 2005. This is up from 5,893 in 2004 and 6,055 in 2003.During FY 2006, there were 5,395 Federal defendants sentenced for methamphetamine-related charges in U.S. Courts. Approximately 98% of the cases involved methamphetamine trafficking.

Production & Trafficking
Decreased domestic methamphetamine production is reducing wholesale supplies of domestically produced methamphetamine. The decreased production is a result of law enforcement pressure, public awareness campaigns, and increased regulation of the sale and use of precursor and essential chemicals used in methamphetamine production. However, decreases in domestic methamphetamine production have been offset by increased production in Mexico. Methamphetamine is easily produced in clandestine laboratories or meth labs using a variety of ingredients available in stores. The manufacturing of methamphetamine is called "cooking". Cooking a batch of meth can be very dangerous due to the fact that the chemicals used are volatile and the by-products are very toxic. Meth labs present a danger to the meth cook, the community surrounding the lab, and the law enforcement personnel who discover the lab.

The Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) system collects and analyzes data about the public health consequences (e.g., morbidity, mortality, and evacuations) of acute hazardous substance—release events. Of the 40,349 events reported to the HSEES system during January 1, 2000—June 30, 2004, a total of 1,791 (4%) were associated with illicit meth production. Meth events consistently had a higher percentage of persons with injuries than did nonmeth events. Of the 1,791 meth events, 558 (31%) resulted in a total of 947 injured persons. As methamphetamine production in small-scale laboratories has decreased nationally since 2004, Mexican criminal groups have expanded direct distribution of methamphetamine, even in many smaller communities. For example, in Midwestern states such as Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio, where methamphetamine laboratory seizures have decreased significantly, Mexican criminal groups have gained control over most distribution of the drug. Law enforcement reports confirm a similar trend throughout much of the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Florida/Caribbean, Southeast, and West Central Regions. These groups pose an increased challenge to local law enforcement because they are often Mexico-based, well-organized, and experienced drug distributors that have been successful in blending into somewhat insular Hispanic communities or among Hispanic workers employed in the agricultural, landscaping, construction, and meat packaging industries. The ability of Mexican criminal groups to continue the expansion of methamphetamine distribution into more communities in the eastern United States appears to be limited primarily by their capability to further expand methamphetamine production in Mexico. Law enforcement reporting indicates that methamphetamine laboratories have been discovered on federal lands throughout the United States. Methamphetamine laboratories often are discovered in or near caves, cabins, recreational areas, abandoned mines, and private vehicles located on or adjacent to federal lands. Increased restrictions on cold preparations and other medicines containing methamphetamine precursor chemicals in many states have contributed to sharp declines in the number of labs in those states. Additionally, restricted importation of bulk pseudoephedrine from Canada since January 2003 has resulted in significant declines in the number of domestic methamphetamine superlabs. National Clandestine Laboratory Seizure System (NCLSS) data show that the overall number of reported methamphetamine laboratory seizures nationwide has decreased 42% from 10,015 in 2004 to 5,846 in 2005. Preliminary data indicate that this trend has continued in 2006. The number of laboratory seizures will most likely decrease further as more states implement restrictions on products used in the production of the drug.

Legislation
Methamphetamine is a Schedule II narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.24 The chemicals that are used to produce methamphetamine are also controlled under the Comprehensive Methamphetamine Control Act of 1996 (MCA). This legislation broadened the controls on listed chemicals used in the production of methamphetamine, increased penalties for the trafficking and manufacturing of methamphetamine and listed chemicals, and expanded the controls of products containing the licit chemicals ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine (PPA).Signed in October 2000, the Children's Health Act of 2000 includes provisions dealing with methamphetamine prevention, production, enforcement, treatment and abuse. On March 9, 2006, President Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, which includes provisions to strengthen Federal, state, and local efforts to combat the spread of methamphetamine.


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