Is Super Meth The Next Big Drug Epidemic?
Every so often, the media makes a big deal about a new addition to the drug supply. The media hype often comes with a heavy dose of stereotypes about the users of those drugs. All of those feature stories on the evening news about inner city crackheads, trailer park meth heads, and apathetic young ketamine enthusiasts like so many minions shed little light on the reality of overdose deaths and how to prevent them. Drug fads come and go, albeit not as quickly as the news cycle, but an increase in the potency of available drugs has contributed to an increase in the rate of fatal overdoses. Fentanyl, an opioid approximately 100 percent times as strong as morphine, continues to cause more overdoses than any other drug, but opioids are not the only drug getting stronger. In the past four years, a stronger form of methamphetamine has become a presence in the drug supply in the United States. If the police found methamphetamine during a search of your vehicle, it may or may not be the new “super meth,” but you definitely need a West Palm Beach drug offenses lawyer.
The Rise of Super Meth
If your only knowledge of methamphetamine is what you hear on the news, then you probably think of it as a sleazy, dangerous drug cooked in improvised meth labs or in people’s kitchens. Methamphetamine has some accepted medical uses, though, which is why it is a Schedule II controlled substance, as opposed to Schedule I. The Schedule I designation is reserved for drugs that have no legally accepted medical applications; for example, heroin is a Schedule I controlled substance. By contrast, Schedule II controlled substances are as dangerous as Schedule I, but they have at least one application in medicine, such as fentanyl for postsurgical pain relief and cocaine for controlling bleeding during eye surgery.
Amphetamines, including methamphetamine, are central nervous system stimulants. The drugs most commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy are amphetamines, for example. Doctors used to prescribe amphetamines for weight loss, but because of the associated risks, this application is much less common than it used to be.
A new version of methamphetamine, known as phenyl-2-propanone (P2P) and dubbed super meth by journalists, made its way into the United States drug supply in 2019. It tends to be produced in Mexican labs and imported into the U.S. in large quantities. Since super meth is so much stronger than the usual kind of meth, as well as being so much less expensive, epidemiologists fear that it could lead to an increase in accidental overdoses, similar to what has happened with fentanyl. Super meth also carries an increased risk of severe psychiatric side effects.
Contact a West Palm Beach Drug Crimes Lawyer Today
Attorney William Wallshein has more than 38 years of experience, including five years as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County. Contact William Wallshein P.A. in West Palm Beach, Florida to discuss your case.
Sources:
newsnationnow.com/cuomo-show/super-meth-proliferation-health-toll/
nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
