I know a woman, a friend’s mother, who was a full-blown addict for about six months (armed burglary, missing teeth, all the trimmings) and got clean. I’m unsure as to exactly how much rehab she had but I know it was substantial and associated with prison time. I met her a year after she got clean, and she was doing ok; missing some teeth but had clean, white teeth that were left; looked older than she was but not drastically so (was maybe 45, looked maybe 55) and had a moderately successful, stable job as a freelance welder. The difference was in the way she looked at the world- you got a sense that this was a sharp person at one point, but now she’d have to stop and process things much more than you’d expect. So yes, you can do meth, be a hardcore tweaker, and eventually come back to a semblance of normality and have a decent life, but it may take a whole lot of rehab and you may never get quite back to where you were.
There’s a Google ad right now that says:
Crystal meth
Browse a huge selection now.
Find exactly what you want today.
Meth is not a substance which lends itself well to moderation. Apparent freedom from fatigue, seemingly bottomless reserves of energy, the subjective feeling of stimulated genius, and Instant Interesting in insufflated form.
A strong-willed person, forearmed with the knowledge that staying up for extended periods or repeating the experience frequently is going to seem like exactly the right thing to do, and that it’s critically important that they stick to their earlier resolve for abstenious parsimony – they may be okay.
…but I wouldn’t give very good odds on that.
(In my youth, I was pretty free with pharmaceuticals. I did heroic doses of LSD every week for a full decade, don’t feel that it adverserly affected my health or security, and would not be terribly perturbed about anyone I considered to have a good head on their shoulders considering a similar regimen. I hooked up with a tweaker girl for a while, and consequently got into meth for about a month. I came out of it okay, but it definitely had a negative impact, and I would not recommend that anyone – no matter how level-headed they might be – test themselves with meth.)
I didn’t give the full-blown argument there so you are right to question it. LSD and marijuana are the lazy person’s argument regrading how bad a given drug is. I wanted to push it a little and say that Crack is much worse than Meth in all ways. Crack used to be the Gold Standard for bad drugs and Meth beat it down and then passed it easily. Crack doesn’t do the physical damage as meth at least not nearly as fast. I have known three former crack addicts and they were all attractive and well put together once they got clean. One was a business executive in his 50’s. The other two were drug counselors.
OTOH, meth destroys your teeth and you mouth and causes something that looks like rapid aging. I have witnessed that a person can bounce back fully from crack but meth addiction seems to cause irreparable damage both physically and mentally. Add that to the fact that meth can devastate small towns and blow up a house or two and I think that meth wins the danger award easily against the old champion, crack.
Simple answer to the OP - yes, some people can use meth without their lives falling apart. Probably a large majority.
Methamphetamine has been around for about a hundred years. Historically there have been times when it was very widely used - for example WW2 Germany. Recreational use was pretty widespread in the US in the 6Os and 70s. Currently it’s medically used to treat narcolepsy and ADHD in some countries.
Like with other ‘drugs of abuse’ though, it’s particularly attractive to people who are most vulnerable to addiction. And obviously methamphetamine (and other drug) abuse is devastating for some people, be it in terms of physical health, psychological impairment, behavioral and social / legal ramifications etc.
OTOH there’s a lot of quasi-mythological hysteria in the US regarding this particular drug right now, which in my opinion is not helpful in addressing the real issues surrounding drug abuse.
Isn’t that a slightly misleading comparison though? Military issue was normally in tablet form, and the wiki article refers to it being blended in chocolate rations. I believe smoking/injecting is the usual form of abuse nowadays, and that’s a whole different level of intensity.
I’m glad that Baltimore seems to have more of a Heroin problem than a meth problem. Heroin junkies seem a lot more mellow.
It’s a shame that this question even has to be asked. Yes, of course it’s possible to do meth and be okay. In fact, in my experience, that’s what happens in the majority of cases–and I’ve seen a lot of meth use; last I heard, San Diego was the US capital of meth addiction. (No, I don’t have a cite. It may be outdated by 5 years anyway.)
I smoked and/or sniffed it about a dozen times myself (maybe two dozen; can’t say I was counting or anything). I got bored after a few months and wrote it off as a waste of time and money. I saw some people get pretty fucked up on it, but I think the question of whether it’s even possible to use meth and end up OK is wildly off-target. Aren’t you proof of that, mangeorge?
I haven’t seen anyone here question whether meth ruins lives, nor do I think a TV show produced for entertainment purposes is a reliable source. YMMV.
Cocaine is not even close to any of the others in addictive potential, and IME none of the last three are anywhere near as hard to kick as nicotine. Again, YMMV.
Actually, full disclosure time: now that I think about it, there were some doubts as to the purity of the meth I smoked. Since I have no way of knowing, I’ll concede preemptively that I may have been using relatively weak stuff. It’s possible. I doubt it, though–most of the stuff out there is probably adulterated, but that’s just my experience. (ETA: If memory serves, the stuff I did the first time (different supplier from all the rest) was quite potent.) And all that said, this part right here is the key:
The key to resisting addiction to any drug is to consider how you’re probably going to feel when you’re on it and what the most rational course of action will be at that time, and then to stick to your guns. For me, it was never as hard as it’s cracked up to be. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’ve known a lot of addicts and a lot of weekend warriors and IME the difference is almost always 100% attitudinal and situational.
We’re on the same page, more-or-less, but with meth I think there is a greater tendency for people to seek out the effects again in inappropriate contexts, leading to alarming situations like this. (video link)
I would never feel comfortable saying to someone else, “Ah, you’ll be fine,” – no matter what my assessment of them was.
I’ve used (in the distant past) but was never addicted to anything other than tobacco. I still don’t understand addiction.
It just occurred to me that I guess I should say I didn’t use meth, so I don’t know what that does to a person.
Well, there ya go! If a former user doesn’t get it, a ‘never-user’ would struggle more.
Wait, hold the phone. Meth was widely used during WW2 Germany? …why? And by whom?
Useful stimulant, and widely used. Hitler’s manic energy was in large part due to prescribed intravenous methamphetamine injections. Grunts were supplied with oral methamphetamine tablets. Meth was (and is, in some places) marketed under the trade-name Pervitin.)
The U.S. Air Force still supplies its pilots with dextroamphetamines, for much the same reason - sometimes the deferred fatigue is desirable.
Ging, I have to admit that I don’t really understand addiction, either. My brother was an addict, and for that reason I was always very careful to avoid anything with a withdrawal syndrome. From what I’ve heard, the withdrawal isn’t even so excruciating. I don’t understand what keeps someone choosing to use when everything is going to hell. I guess I’m grateful for that.
We’re talking about meth not crack. Do try to keep up 
It’s not that big of a deal, he only methed up.
And recent studies have found that meth completely destroys parts of your brain, especially the sections with regard to emotions.
I coulda been a genius !!! :smack:
Methamphetamine is still one of the most effective treatments for ADD, so therapeutically, at least, it’s being used long term by many people, without disastrous consequences. Presumably these patients don’t use the amounts that would be taken by somone intentionally abusing the drug.
Can any doctors here comment? (Paging Qadgop)
o/t
I’ve never used - I doubt the 3 joints I helped smoke amounted to anything, and booze and cigarettes don’t even register on my personal chemistry. But I understand addiction (in the broad sense), and strongly relate to the people on Intervention.
Hehe. Pervitin. So were a lot of regular people being prescribed Pervitin? Was it something that people just went and asked for, or was there some ostensible “condition” you needed it for?