Residential Drug Rehabs Speak Out: Why Methamphetamines Are So Scary

Methamphetamines have gone far beyond a problem in the United States and are now an epidemic. Colorado drug rehab centers have reported significant increases in the use of the drug. Meth is different from many other drugs because it is the most prominent in quiet, rural areas not often associated with drug abuse. This is only part of what makes this drug one of the scariest.

How Methamphetamines Are Acquired

One of the biggest problems with methamphetamines is how it gets into the hands of users. Unlike cocaine and heroin, kids can make methamphetamines right in their own home. Residential drug rehabs say that if you don't think you have the ingredients, you had better think again.

Colorado drug rehab centers and facilities across the country say items such as battery acid, paint thinner, drain cleaner, pseudoephedrine, and ephedrine are just some of the ingredients of the drug. Governments and companies are doing what they can to limit the amounts of these products that you can buy, but it is still too easy for kids to get them.

Costs Of Methamphetamines

The low cost of methamphetamines makes this a very frightening drug, states the country's residential drug rehabs. Because they are made from inexpensive, abundant household items, it doesn't take much for a group of kids to collect the items needed to mix up a batch. When methamphetamines are made, they give off toxic gasses that are dangerous to breathe and are highly flammable. These fumes soak into wood and other building materials.

Colorado drug rehabs say that one pound of methamphetamines produces approximately six pounds of hazardous waste. This waste is thrown out on the ground or poured into toilets, sinks, and tubs causing extreme environmental damage as well as harm to animals and children that come into contact with it. It can cost between $2,500 and $10,000 to clean up an area where meth has been produced.

Methamphetamine's Addictive Properties

Although the ingredient list for this drug sounds more sickening than habit forming, it is one of the most addictive drugs in the world today. Methamphetamines cause your body to release increased levels of norepinephrine and dopamine. Norepinephrine causes your body to increase its energy and heart rate and is generally released by a stressful or shocking event.

The human body releases dopamine during meals, sexual encounters, and other events that bring pleasure. To put this into perspective, the body will double the level of this hormone during sexual encounters, but will triple it with the use cocaine. When methamphetamines are introduced into the body, residential drug rehabs and other drug experts have found the level of dopamine to be more that twelve times higher than it should be.

Colorado drug rehab centers and residential drug rehabs across the country say this is one of the hardest drugs to treat and prevent. Methamphetamines are more widely available than others, and are extremely dangerous to make. They seriously damage the body and their highly addictive properties only magnify these complications.