The New Meth Epidemic: Chemical Changes Lead to Major Devastation

Meth is meth, right? 

Or is it?

Let’s take a look at something more benign: water. Put two atoms of hydrogen with one atom of oxygen and you get water. Add a second oxygen atom and you have something very different – hydrogen peroxide. One is good for drinking. The other…not so much.

Now, let’s go back to meth. When this drug was first introduced in 1919, a Japanese researcher created it by altering a substance called ephedrine. Ephedrine comes from the ephedrine plant and is commonly used in decongestants. In the 1980s, drug dealers in the U.S. rediscovered this method, and a huge meth market exploded.

Officials took action to make it harder for criminals to access ephedrine (such as restricting Sudafed sales). This may have helped slow the meth market, but it didn’t stop it. Instead, it forced everything about meth to evolve.

Meth cooks turned to a second way to make the drug – with phenyl-2-propanone (P2P). This clear liquid could be made cheaply through the combination of several easy-to-access chemicals.

By the early 2000s, this new and evolved version of meth was widespread.

Changes in Meth Equal Instant Chaos

Why was this chemical alteration significant? The answer lies in its effects. Meth is a neurotoxin, which means it damages the brain no matter how it is prepared. While ephedrine meth caused slow damage over years of abuse, P2P meth can cause immediate damage to the brain.

Using P2P meth results in a “cerebral catastrophe” – quickly causing severe deterioration in mental health. Hallucinations, violent paranoia, isolation, jumbled speech, and memory loss are all common symptoms. The effects were so noticeable that when the “new” meth started to circulate, some gang members began calling it “weirdo dope.” 

However, its damaging effects didn’t slow down use. By 2012, meth was flowing into Southern California from Mexico in droves. That year, 96% of meth samples tested by the DEA were made with P2P.

Over the next six years, P2P meth continued to spread across the country. Meth labs popped up all over the country, and this increase in supply caused the price to drop, which spurred even more sales and abuse.

The Fallout of a Spreading Meth Epidemic

People across the country are now seeing the effects of this evolution in the meth epidemic. As overdose deaths continue to rise across the U.S., stimulants other than cocaine are increasingly to blame, including meth. Use of the drug increased by 43% from 2012 to 2019. By 2023, 2.6 million Americans age 12 or older (0.9% of the population) reported using meth within the past year. 

The Future of the Meth Epidemic

How bad could this epidemic get? In recent years, reports show that two-thirds of people age 26 and above who have used meth within the past year now meet the criteria for having substance use disorder (SUD). 

If you or someone you love is experiencing a substance use disorder, help is available. Call 800-996-6135(Sponsored) today.