They come as capsules, pills, white powder, rock powder resembling wax, shards of glass

contains

a mixture of pure amphetamines and talcum powder, baking powder, starch, glucose or quinine.

The club drug.

"Club drugs in general appear to be entrenched in the youth culture. Most concerns relate to problems likely to be experienced by younger/inexperienced users, the quality of the drugs being sold, and the possibility of Ecstasy users using other drugs (especially amphetamines) in combination or moving on to other harder drugs." (South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU), www.mrc.ac.za/urban/sacendu.htm

orally, injected or smoked.

In the 1980's, "ice," a smokable form of methamphetamine, came into use. Ice is a large, usually clear crystal of high purity that is smoked in a glass pipe like crack cocaine. The smoke is odourless, leaves a residue that can be resmoked, and produces effects that may continue for 12 hours or more.

violent behaviour, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia.

Eventually the drug inhibits sexual functioning in both sexes. The consequences, include men developing breasts, losing interest in sex and experiencing impotence, and women developing menstrual problems, infertility and difficulty achieving orgasm.

Chronic abuse can lead to psychotic behaviour - intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and out-of-control rages that can be coupled with extremely violent behaviour.

Depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression, and an intense craving for the drug.

Stomach cramps, delusions, nausea, drowsiness, insatiable hunger, aggressive, severe depression and suicidal impulses.

Some behaviour characteristic of tweaking, is picking at skin, pulling out one's hairs, and compulsively cleaning.

AMPHETAMINES

Amphetamines stimulate the central nervous system and have the effect of speeding up many of the vital organs, hence the name 'uppers'. First synthesised in 1887, they stimulate the body in a similar way to adrenaline, which is produced naturally by the body, when it need extra energy.

The South African version of speed has for many years been Ritalin - not speed per se, but a synthesised laboratory stimulant. Pure speed is Metamphetamine or amphetamine.

WHAT AMPHETAMINES CONTAIN

Most amphetamines sold illegally contain a mixture of pure amphetamines and talcum powder, baking powder, starch, glucose or quinine. These additives can be very poisonous. They can cause collapsed veins, tetanus, abscesses, and damage to the heart, lungs, liver and brain. And because the user doesn't know whether they are using 5 per cent or 50 per cent pure amphetamines, it is easy to accidentally overdose.

Because of the zealous refinement of recipes, today's meth is as much as six times as potent as the meth that the bikers sold, and flower children bought, in the '60s.

Increasingly, meth is made in back yards and, frequently, kitchens, in mom-and-pop operations. There appears to be no limit to creativity in meth recipes; they're traded on the Internet and handed down among manufacturers, generation to generation.

The most popular form of meth today - d-meth - is as close to 100 percent purity as ever dreamed possible.

How they are used

Amphetamines can be taken orally, injected or smoked. Immediately after smoking the drug or injecting it intravenously, the user experiences an intense rush or "flash" that lasts only a few minutes and is described as extremely pleasurable. Snorting or oral ingestion produces euphoria - a high but not an intense rush. Snorting produces effects within 3 to 5 minutes, and oral ingestion produces effects within 15 to 20 minutes.

As with similar stimulants, methamphetamine most often is used in a "binge and crash" pattern. Because tolerance for methamphetamine occurs within minutes - meaning that the pleasurable effects disappear even before the drug concentration in the blood falls significantly - users try to maintain the high by binging on the drug.

In the 1980's, "ice," a smokable form of methamphetamine, came into use. Ice is a large, usually clear crystal of high purity that is smoked in a glass pipe like crack cocaine. The smoke is odourless, leaves a residue that can be resmoked, and produces effects that may continue for 12 hours or more.

Athletes and students sometimes begin using Amphetamines because of the initial heightened physical and mental performance the drug produces. Initially, small doses of the drug do increase the ability to concentrate. Scientific research has shown that releases high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which stimulates brain cells, causing enhanced mood and increased body movement.

Effects

As a powerful stimulant, methamphetamine, even in small doses, can increase wakefulness and physical activity and decrease appetite. A brief, intense sensation, or rush, is reported by those who smoke or inject methamphetamine. Oral ingestion or snorting produces a long-lasting high instead of a rush, which reportedly can continue for as long as half a day. Both the rush and the high are believed to result from the release of very high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine into areas of the brain that regulate feelings of pleasure.

Methamphetamine has toxic effects. In animals, a single high dose of the drug has been shown to damage nerve terminals in the dopamine-containing regions of the brain.

The large release of dopamine produced by methamphetamine is thought to contribute to the drug's toxic effects on nerve terminals in the brain.

Treatment guidelines issued this year by the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Treatment say "some of the most frightening research findings about meth suggest that its prolonged use not only modifies behaviors but literally changes the brain in fundamental and longlasting ways." In layman's language, meth rewires the brain.

High doses can elevate body temperature to dangerous, sometimes lethal levels, as well as cause convulsions.

They cause an increased in pulse rate, breathing rate and blood pressure, and in many people produce feelings of well being and elation and produce the sensation of surging energy.

Amphetamines are sometimes used for slimming as they produce extra energy so less food is needed, while also curbing the appetite.

Once they have worn off, however, they can produce a feeling of exhaustion and depression. Although the effects of the drug only last for 3-4 hours, it may take days for the body to fully recover.

Amphetamines are highly addictive and tolerance develops rapidly, so users need more and more to get high, and start going on longer and longer binges. Some users avoid sleep for 3 to 15 days while bingeing.

The rate of addiction is breathtaking: Over six months of use, 94 percent of those who smoke meth become addicted, as do 72 percent who snort it.

Long Term Effects

Long term methamphetamine abuse results in many damaging effects, including addiction. Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease, characterised by compulsive drug-seeking and drug use which is accompanied by functional and molecular changes in the brain. In addition to being addicted to methamphetamine, chronic methamphetamine abusers exhibit symptoms that can include violent behaviour, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia.

Eventually the drug inhibits sexual functioning in both sexes. The consequences cited in the guidelines from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, include men developing breasts, losing interest in sex and experiencing impotence, and women developing menstrual problems, infertility and difficulty achieving orgasm.

They also can display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions (for example, the sensation of insects creeping on the skin, called "formication"). The paranoia can result in homicidal as well as suicidal thoughts.

Meth abusers die at higher rates from suicide, traffic accidents and murder, and commonly succumb to overdoses or malnutrition.

With chronic use, tolerance for methamphetamine can develop. In an effort to intensify the desired effects, users may take higher doses of the drug, take it more frequently, or change their method of drug intake. In some cases, abusers forego food and sleep while indulging in a form of bingeing known as a "run," injecting as much as a gram of the drug every 2 to 3 hours over several days until the user runs out of the drug or is too disorganised to continue.

Dr. Alex Stalcup, an addiction physician in America, treats people who have gone without sleep for as long as 10 days. The record-holder was a woman up 21 days. "Politely put, she was crazier than a barn owl," he says.

Chronic abuse can lead to psychotic behaviour, characterised by intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and out-of-control rages that can be coupled with extremely violent behaviour.

Withdrawal symptoms

Although there are no physical manifestations of a withdrawal syndrome when methamphetamine use is stopped, there are several symptoms that occur when a chronic user stops taking the drug. These include depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression, and an intense craving for the drug.

In scientific studies examining the consequences of long term methamphetamine exposure in animals, concern has arisen over its toxic effects on the brain. Researchers have reported that as much as 50 percent of the dopamine-producing cells in the brain can be damaged after prolonged exposure to relatively low levels of methamphetamine. Researchers also have found that serotonin-containing nerve cells may be damaged even more extensively. Whether this toxicity is related to the psychosis seen in some long-term methamphetamine abusers is still an open question.

When they are withheld, severe withdrawal symptoms may occur, including stomach cramps, delusions, nausea, drowsiness, insatiable hunger, aggressive, severe depression and suicidal impulses. Chronic long-term abuse may give rise to psychotic disorders, violence, aggression and psychotic episodes with paranoia and hallucinations. Psychological symptoms of prolonged use are characterised by paranoia, hallucinations, repetitive behaviour patterns, and delusions of parasites or insects under the skin. Users often obsessively scratch their skin to get rid of these imagined insects.

Long term use, high dosages, or both can bring on full-blown toxic psychosis (often exhibited as violent, aggressive behaviour). This violent, aggressive behaviour is usually coupled with extreme paranoia. When users come off a meth binge (while still in the intoxification phase), nonpurposeful, repetitious, compulsive behaviour is common. Some behaviour characteristic of tweaking, is picking at skin, pulling out one's hairs, and compulsively cleaning.