# Stop saying "meth!" It is stupid! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 10, 2013, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310 "2013-04-10T09:39:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/1 "2013-04-10T09:39:55Z")
First of all, NO ONE who uses speed EVER calls it “meth.” The resulting effect is as if people who did not drink coffee decided to refer to it as “splornk,” and went around calling you a “splornk-drinker” all day. In the underworld, if somebody asks if you know where to get some “meth,” you know they’re a cop. Second, and more importantly, “meth” is a short form of “methamphetamine.” There **ARE NO** methamphetamines available anywhere! In order to make methamphetamines, you need to have certain precursors (like P2P or ephedrine) which are now virtually impossible to obtain. Anyone procuring an amount of these precursors sufficient to actually produce a batch of methamphetamine is certainly not going to distribute it to the general public. \*\*THERE ARE NO “METH” USERS! THERE IS FUNCTIONALLY NO SUCH THING AS A “METH” USER! \*\* (unless they have a prescription for it – and then, we don’t call them “users” – we call them “patients.”) Anyone purchasing what passes for speed these days is getting [“bath salts:”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_salts_%28drug%29) a substance so nasty, so adulterated with God-knows-what, so unpleasantly far removed from anything like a genuine methamphetamine, that it has caused **actual** (formerly) meth users to give up in despair. Or so I am told. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/2 "2013-04-10T09:50:49Z")
Actually I did know a woman who used meth who called it meth. That’s the only meth-user I’ve ever known, to my knowledge. So where do we go from here? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/3 "2013-04-10T09:52:13Z")
Do they still call it ‘speed’? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/4 "2013-04-10T09:58:18Z")
So, in _Breaking Bad_, what’s the (relatively cheap) crap that Jesse is cooking/selling at the beginning of the series? What’s Walt’s 99.4% pure blue stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/5 "2013-04-10T10:01:28Z")
Meth users vs grammatical pedants: \*\*there’s \*\*a Venn diagram I’d like to see. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/6 "2013-04-10T10:06:58Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Actually I did know a woman who used meth who called it meth. That’s the only meth-user I’ve ever known, to my knowledge. So where do we go from here? Seriously? I can’t imagine how she ever copped. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/7 "2013-04-10T10:09:11Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > First of all, NO ONE who uses speed EVER calls it “meth.” Oh, OK. I wouldn’t want anyone thinking I’m not really a druggie. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/8 "2013-04-10T10:09:31Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Meth users vs grammatical pedants: \*\*there’s \*\*a Venn diagram I’d like to see. Ha ha, three-way Venn diagram: speedfreaks, grammatical pedants, and people who own aprons! P.S. **Gagundathar:** Yes. **Mr Shine:** Relatively cheap? Definitely bath salts. The blue stuff, I don’t know for sure; but there is a certain solvent which is said to make the dope turn blue when smoked. Nasty, nasty shit! ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/9 "2013-04-10T10:18:26Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Actually I did know a woman who used meth who called it meth. That’s the only meth-user I’ve ever known, to my knowledge. So where do we go from here? I’m going to go ahead and guess that you’ve got yourself an undercover cop there. Real meth heads never call it meth - I learned that right here on the boards. Meanwhile, am I the last person to get the memo that “speed” and “meth” are the same thing? All this time I’ve been thinking meth was some new super drug, and I never even realised people had stopped talking about speed. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/10 "2013-04-10T10:25:40Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Meanwhile, am I the last person to get the memo that “speed” and “meth” are the same thing? All this time I’ve been thinking meth was some new super drug, and I never even realised people had stopped talking about speed. Perhaps you are. People are talking about the same thing; except insofar as I have explained that they are not the same anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/11 "2013-04-10T10:30:23Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > First of all, NO ONE who uses speed EVER calls it “meth.” Not even once? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/12 "2013-04-10T10:38:00Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > Not even once? All I can say is that, in 30 years of close proximity to the counterculture/ underwlorld or whatever, I personally have never, ever heard anyone call it that, not even once. (Except for police officers.) Most commonly, they just call it “dope,” because there is no chance of anyone mistaking what kind of dope they mean. Speedfreaks, (heroin) junkies, and other kinds of users rarely hang out together. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/13 "2013-04-10T10:46:52Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > > [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > > > Not even once? > > All I can say is that, in 30 years of close proximity to the counterculture/ underwlorld or whatever, I personally have never, ever heard anyone call it that, not even once. (Except for police officers.) > > Most commonly, they just call it “dope,” because there is no chance of anyone mistaking what kind of dope they mean. Speedfreaks, (heroin) junkies, and other kinds of users rarely hang out together. [Meth 1](http://picsthatdontsuck.com/img/Meth_Stargate.jpg) [Meth 2](http://www.google.com/url?source=imglanding&ct=img&q=http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/meth.jpg&sa=X&ei=2dvMULasA6PiiAL_7IGoAQ&ved=0CAkQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNFSMSb2o8nMjm8p_Og6Gxz6dvpWvA) [Meth 3](http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Not+even+once_d563c1_3655424.jpg) [Meth 4](http://www.google.com/url?source=imglanding&ct=img&q=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rtMsD1b0i4o/Swd2xORvRtI/AAAAAAAAAuU/4vpDAkyh3dA/s1600/seeing-faces-on-inanimate-objects-is-not-normal-but-on-meth-it-is.jpg&sa=X&ei=ddzMUOLnHMabiAKThYCYAQ&ved=0CAoQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNHoV_5N9CO2EI6ldopmZBo-08tVqQ) [Meth 5](http://www.google.com/url?source=imglanding&ct=img&q=http://img.izismile.com/img/img4/20111123/640/funny_this_is_not_normal_meth_memes_640_28.jpg&sa=X&ei=xtzMUOaPOeL2igLdwIH4Bg&ved=0CAkQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNFES9SNsy3xuZ2hkR0nRyqGVtJc1Q) [Meth 6](http://www.google.com/url?source=imglanding&ct=img&q=http://2pep.com/funny%20pics/humorous%20hilarious%20pictures/worlds_funniest_hilarious_pictures_cool_images_6.jpg&sa=X&ei=T93MUK6LHIGUiQLVnICICw&ved=0CAoQ8wc4uQE&usg=AFQjCNHcLm7MqfAfxr5Fs1KtPMQnoYGMwA) [Meth 7](http://2pep.com/funny%20pics/humorous%20hilarious%20pictures/worlds_funniest_hilarious_pictures_cool_images_5.jpg) [Meth 8](http://2pep.com/funny%20pics/humorous%20hilarious%20pictures/worlds_funniest_hilarious_pictures_cool_images_1.jpg) [Meth 9](http://2pep.com/funny%20pics/humorous%20hilarious%20pictures/worlds_funniest_hilarious_pictures_cool_images_3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/14 "2013-04-10T10:47:06Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > First of all, NO ONE who uses speed EVER calls it “meth.” > > The resulting effect is as if people who did not drink coffee decided to refer to it as “splornk,” and went around calling you a “splornk-drinker” all day. > > In the underworld, if somebody asks if you know where to get some “meth,” you know they’re a cop. > > Second, and more importantly, “meth” is a short form of “methamphetamine.” There **ARE NO** methamphetamines available anywhere! In order to make methamphetamines, you need to have certain precursors (like P2P or ephedrine) which are now virtually impossible to obtain. Anyone procuring an amount of these precursors sufficient to actually produce a batch of methamphetamine is certainly not going to distribute it to the general public. > > \*\*THERE ARE NO “METH” USERS! THERE IS FUNCTIONALLY NO SUCH THING AS A “METH” USER! \*\* > > (unless they have a prescription for it – and then, we don’t call them “users” – we call them “patients.”) > > Anyone purchasing what passes for speed these days is getting [“bath salts:”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_salts_%28drug%29) a substance so nasty, so adulterated with God-knows-what, so unpleasantly far removed from anything like a genuine methamphetamine, that it has caused **actual** (formerly) meth users to give up in despair. > > Or so I am told. Wow. Feeling a bit edgy are we? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/15 "2013-04-10T10:56:46Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > First of all, NO ONE who uses speed EVER calls it “meth.” > … > > Second, and more importantly, “meth” is a short form of “methamphetamine.” There **ARE NO** methamphetamines available anywhere! In order to make methamphetamines, you need to have certain precursors (like P2P or ephedrine) which are now virtually impossible to obtain. Anyone procuring an amount of these precursors sufficient to actually produce a batch of methamphetamine is certainly not going to distribute it to the general public. > … > > \*\*THERE ARE NO “METH” USERS! THERE IS FUNCTIONALLY NO SUCH THING AS A “METH” USER! \*\* Do you by chance see the inherent contradictions in your OP? 😃 Oh, and just by the by, there was a bust here in Melbourne today that netted a haul of METHAMPHETAMINE (in a liquid form) with a street value of circa $200 MILLION bucks. Yep..no meth out there folks. Well, there’s less now of course, but that’s beside the point. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/16 "2013-04-10T10:58:37Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Wow. Feeling a bit edgy are we? [Inspector Clouseau] \* Not anymore!\* [/Inspector Clouseau] Seriously, you’re not jamming me for ranting\*\*\* in the BBQ Pit,\*\*\* are you? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/17 "2013-04-10T11:07:18Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > [Inspector Clouseau] \* Not anymore!\* [/Inspector Clouseau] > Seriously, you’re not jamming me for ranting\*\*\* in the BBQ Pit,\*\*\* are you? When someone comes into the Pit frothing and ranting **IN BIG CAPITAL LETTERS** no less about something so fucking stupid and inconsequential, one has to wonder about the motivations and/or substances aiding and abetting the activity. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/18 "2013-04-10T11:10:55Z")
**kambuckta:** I found an article on that bust [here.](http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/victoria-police-and-customs-in-205-million-methamphetamine-drug-bust/story-fnat79vb-1226617424429) In fact, googling “melbourne, methamphetamine bust” yielded an impressive array of technicolor busts. My advice: Don’t believe everything you read. Although I can’t be certain about the one you mentioned because of its connection to Asia and possibly therefore to marginally easier access to ephedra (long used in traditional Chinese medicine), I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that 9 out of 10 (or better) news reports about “meth labs” or “meth busts” are in fact talking about people who are brewing up some variation on bath salts. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/19 "2013-04-10T11:17:20Z")
Until the next BigT thread, we now have the current winner of dumbest thread on the board. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310/20 "2013-04-10T11:18:20Z")
Piss-poor rant. Not only are vast quantities of “meth” (ie crystal methamphetamine, aka N-methylamphetamine) readily available in many countries, so too are the precursors. The users I knew referred to it as Crystal Meth, or occasionally the local slag, “tik”. None of them were cops. If you desire to rant, rant with facts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-saying-meth-it-is-stupid/655310.md?page=2)