Okay, so. Two people, both good friends of mine, in a relationship. The woman has come to me for advice, and I don’t know what to tell her.
He has, in the past, used speed occasionally. She has not, and disapproves of its use. He has never had an addiction to it, and sees it as a casual thing.
They’ve both gained a lot of weight over the last few years, and they joined Weight Watchers together this last January. He’s lost 60 lbs so far; she’s lost 30. She is worried because she thinks it’s possible that the reason he’s lost so much so quickly is because he’s using speed again. (There are a couple other things - overheard conversations that sound shady, etc.) She hasn’t confronted him about it; his explanation for this is “Men lose weight faster than women do.” (Which is true, on the whole, but this is a LOT.)
The issues at hand:
Is he, in fact, using speed? She hasn’t found any paraphanelia, but isn’t sure what to look for.
If he is, is she right being upset about it? If he’s not addicted, and they have no money issues, and he’s being discreet about it, should she just mellow out and let him do what he’s clearly going to do anyway? Or should she confront him about it?
Her basic attitude is very much out of the Just-Say-No lectures we got in HS in the 80’s - that there is only a small step between using a potentially physically addictive street drug recreationally and being a homeless junkie who breaks into houses to get their fix. Because of this attitude, the whole situation FREAKS HER THE HELL OUT. She knows intellectually that this isn’t necessarily true, but has trouble accepting it emotionally.
I really don’t know how to advise her. Her reaction is on one hand understandable, but on the other hand way out of proportion. My experience with the issues at hand is pretty much nil.
I’ve been in Weight Watchers for a few years and it’s not unusual at all for men to lose that much faster than women, especially if they start pretty high. There was one guy in our group that lost an average of five pounds a week for months on end. He ended up losing over a hundred pounds in less than a year. He claimed he didn’t even exercise that much.
You’re confusing crystal meth (crystaline methamphetamine) with speed (amphetamines). The two may share a root, but that’s about as far as the similarity goes. Abusing speed certainly isn’t a good idea, but it’s not going to cause the ravages that meth would.
Wait, what? I thought speed WAS crystal meth. I’ve always read and heard the two terms used interchangeably.
As for the OP, it doesn’t really matter what anyone but her thinks. She’s the one who’s in the relationship - either she trusts him or she doesn’t, and either it’s a dealbreaker for her or it’s not.
Generally, I like to repeat the oracular (non)advice: “If you can trust your mate in other matters, there is no reason to doubt him in this.” That is: is he a liar, or not? People are rarely untrustworthy in only one area. If he’s not a liar, then trust him.
If it were ME? Eh, as long as no one’s getting hurt (financially, emotionally, physically), then I don’t care. But it sounds as if emotional harm is indeed possible. IF he’s using against her will, then they have a problem - not because of the drug, but because he’s putting something ahead of her and lying about it. Could be drugs, could be shopping for shoes - only they can determine the dealbreakers for their relationship.
I think Hunter Thompson gave the best explanation of the problem with speed. This isn’t an exact quote because I don’t remember exactly what it’s from, but the upshot of it is as follows:
*
Speed works by allowing you to borrow energy and vitality from the future. As with any other loan, you have to pay it back – with interest.*
Me and the missus have been doing low-carb for the past month. I’ve lost 20 lbs, she’s lost 10 lbs. Same food, different metabolisms - it could be just that.
That said, whizz, when used regularly, can cause psychosis, and I have a friend dead by suicide to prove it. It’s not to be sniffed at.
Speed is bad but truckers seem to be able to use it effectively. Not me. The problem with speed is no sleep. You stay up for a few days, you start having hallucinations.Then the fun starts. Like I said , some truckers can use it, but friend, it gets out of hand real quick. Next thing you know your taking apart your t.v. to make it work better. I’m sure you’ve all seen that show COPS . I’d bet money you will look a lot closer at the junk you see in speed users houses.
They’re both “speed”, but meth is way easier to obtain than amphetamines. If I go out and ask to score some “speed”, I can guarantee you it’ll be meth and if somebody is just casually scoring some, I’d bet that’s what they are getting as well.
I would say that mild occasional use wouldn’t be too awful for a while (I’d be more worried about degraded teeth than anything else) but that the partner concealing his drug use is more the worry. While there isn’t any need for paraphernalia (unless injecting!) it should be easy enough to distinguish whether someone you know well is under the influence - obsessive behaviour, twitchiness, sleeplessness, tedious rambling conversation etc. And it is addictive stuff.
I tried it once, and it did jack shit. That, coupled with the number of people I’ve seen destroyed by it, leads me to ask, “Why not just use coffee?”
Coffee is actually pleasant to use, and has a similar effect. Red Bull works too. I use that sometimes when I’m up late transcribing, but as mentioned above, that energy is a lone you have to repay.
I’m not trying to promote it particularly, but it certainly has markedly different effect from caffeine. It does depend on dosage (sounds like your batch was quite diluted) but amphetamine has a powerful euphoric effect as well as the wakefulness/jitteriness of caffeine. I once snorted (what was touted as) pure caffeine powder from a cola canning factory, and all that really did was make my eyelids flutter into the early hours…
TheLoadedDog, maybe I’m just a big baby, but I don’t find caffeine to be a pleasant high at all. I took a caffeine pill once while pulling an all-nighter and inside my head it was like “gotta concentrate can’t concentrate focus focus focus can’t focus why did I take this concentrate gotta work…” Ugh. Even 2-3 cups of coffee can have this effect on me, so much so that I’ll sometimes regret having too much coffee before work because I feel awkwardly buzzed around my boss. Dextroamphetamine (the only member of the amphetamine family I’ve tried, also to help with an all-nighter), on the other hand, is a nice, clear-headed, focused high.
In answer to the OP, I would concur with others in this thread that it’s not the drug itself, but its role in the user’s life, that can be cause for concern. And that question can’t be answered unless you know for sure whether your friend is using.