News tagged with methamphetamine

CAMH discovery identifies potential target for anti-craving medications

Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have identified a potential target for the development of anti-craving medications for people with addictions to stimulants such as methamphetamine.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jan 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Methamphetamine use increasing again, researchers find

(Medical Xpress) -- Use of methamphetamines is on the rise nationally after a decrease a few years ago, according to university researchers.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Jan 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Meth fills hospitals with burn patients

(AP) -- A crude new method of making methamphetamine poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Research helping combat drug addiction

(Medical Xpress) -- Better help with battling drug addiction could be at hand as a result of research underway at Victoria University of Wellington.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jan 13, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Review questions link between methamphetamine and cognitive impairment

(Medical Xpress) -- A review of recent research on methamphetamine use suggests that claims the drug causes significant cognitive problems are exaggerated. The study by Carl Hart, PhD, and colleagues at Columbia ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

More than other drugs, injected meth is associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide

The dire physical and mental health effects of injecting methamphetamine are well known, but there's been little research about suicidal behavior and injecting meth. In a recent study, researchers at Columbia University's ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 2 / 5 (1) | comments 2

New study finds that PROMETAT, a controversial methamphetamine treatment program, is ineffective

A recent study has found that PROMETAT, a popular but controversial treatment for methamphetamine addiction, is no more effective than placebo in reducing methamphetamine use, keeping users in treatment, or reducing cravings ...

Medicine & Health / Medications

created Nov 15, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study suggests increased risk of schizophrenia in heavy methamphetamine users

In the first worldwide study of its kind, scientists from Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) found evidence that heavy methamphetamine users might have a higher risk of developing schizophrenia. This ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Nov 08, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Party drug's brain tricks explained for first time

(Medical Xpress) -- A researcher at the University of Sydney has discovered how the increasingly common street drug mephedrone affects the brain, helping to explain why it is potentially such an addictive substance.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Oct 31, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Meth use fuels higher rates of unsafe sex, HIV risk in young men who have sex with men

A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and elsewhere shows that methamphetamine use can fuel HIV infection risk among teenage boys and young men who have sex with men (MSM), a group that includes openly ...

Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS

created Aug 02, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Increased risk of Parkinson's disease in methamphetamine users, study finds

People who abused methamphetamine or other amphetamine-like stimulants were more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those who did not, in a new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Medicine & Health / Health

created Jul 26, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Toward a vaccine for methamphetamine abuse

Scientists are reporting development of three promising formulations that could be used in a vaccine to treat methamphetamine addiction — one of the most serious drug abuse problems in the U.S. The report ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 11, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Hard to arouse, hard to calm down

A scale used to assess the behavior of newborns exposed to methamphetamine before birth might be able to identify those children who will develop problems later on, according to a study that will be presented Sunday, May ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created May 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers lead search for better drug-addiction treatments

UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatry researchers are leading the Texas arm of a national network that conducts clinical trials aimed at finding effective treatments for drug addiction.

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Feb 02, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

What makes methamphetamine the most American of drugs

Methamphetamine is often described as the “most American drug” because of its association with hard work, said bestselling author Nick Reding at the Jan. 19 Stanford University Health Policy Forum.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Jan 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine (/mɛθæm'fɛtəmiːn/ also known as metamfetamine (INN), methylamphetamine, N-methylamphetamine, and desoxyephedrine) is a psychostimulant and sympathomimetic drug.

A member of the family of phenylethylamines, methamphetamine is chiral, with two isomers:

The levorotary form, called levomethamphetamine, is an over-the-counter drug used in inhalers for nasal decongestion. Levomethamphetamine does not possess any significant central nervous system activity or addictive properties. The remainder of this article deals only with the dextrorotatory form, called dextromethamphetamine, and the racemic form.

Methamphetamine enters the brain and triggers a cascading release of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. It is highly active in the mesolimbic reward pathways of the brain, inducing intense euphoria, with risk for addiction. To a lesser extent, methamphetamine acts as a dopaminergic and adrenergic reuptake inhibitor with high concentrations serving as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor. Users may become hypersexual or obsessed with a task, thought or activity. Withdrawal is characterized by excessive sleeping, eating, and major depression, often accompanied by anxiety and drug-craving. Methamphetamine users may take sedatives such as benzodiazepines as a means of easing their "come down", anxiety or enable them to sleep.

Methamphetamine has medical uses as well as the potential to cause addiction. Methamphetamine addiction typically occurs when a person begins to use the drug as a stimulant, for its powerful enhancing effects on sex, mood and energy, alertness and ability to concentrate, and weight loss and appetite suppression, among its other psychological and physical effects.[citation needed] Over time tolerance develops, and users have greater difficulty functioning and experiencing pleasure than they did before, which persists indefinitely due to neurotoxicity produced by methamphetamine in long-term recovered addicts.[citation needed]

Nicknames for methamphetamine are numerous and vary significantly from region to region, some common nicknames for methamphetamine include "crank", "meth", "ice", "crystal", "glass", "shabu" or "syabu" (Philippines), "tik" (South Africa), "P" (New Zealand), "piko" (Slovakia), and "yaa baa" (Thailand). Methamphetamine is sometimes referred to as "speed", but this term is generally reserved for regular amphetamine and dextroamphetamine.

For more information about Methamphetamine, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.