Teenage Girls Using Meth For Weight Loss

[Dodger]

http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_065181810.html

(CBS4) DENVER

Studies have shown that many people addicted to methamphetamine are teenage or college-age girls who started using the drug to lose weight.

A 19-year old named Shelby said she first tried meth because she thought of herself as fat and wanted to lose weight.

"It made me skinnier and I liked it a lot," Shelby said.

Statistics suggest 1 in 10 girls who try methamphetamines will become addicted.

"Kids get addicted more quickly than adults do and girls get addicted more quickly than boys do," said Karen Mooney, an addiction counselor. "It's not difficult to get a hold of this drug. If you don't want to sniff it in your nose, you can stir it in your drink and take it that way."

Mooney said the problem has been around for years. In the 1950's, methamphetamine was legal and different forms of it were promoted to help women lose weight.

Fortunately for Shelby, she is sober after four stays in a rehabilitation center. She wants other girls to know it isn't the way to lose weight.

Drug counselors said symptoms of meth addiction include rapid weight loss, increased irritability, sleeplessness and deteriorating communication skills.

In Colorado, more people are being treated for methamphetamine addiction than cocaine. About 4,000 are currently in treatment, and there's a four month waiting list to get into most drug rehab programs.

[Lisa N]

Meth addiction is a growing problem and it's a frigteningly easy drug to get. What's particularly nasty about having been addicted to Meth is that many are never the same emotionally again as it can do permanent damage to pleasure centers in the brain.
Cocaine has nothing on Meth when it comes to leaching calcium from the bones and teeth and that's only the tip of the iceburg when it comes to physiological effects.

Nasty, nasty stuff. :p :thdown:

[judyr]

[QUOTE=Dodger]. In the 1950's, methamphetamine was legal and different forms of it were promoted to help women lose weight.QUOTE]

I had a prescription in the 1966. It was diffinetly helpful. I lost 3 pounds a week, I was never hungry, and had all the energy a person could want. As a mater of fact I cut the dose in half so I could function normally. Unfortunately I gained the weight back.

[quax]

When I was in my early 20s, 10 years ago, I knew quite a few girls who did ecstasy and speed for weight-loss. So much to pressure for a “good” look. It seems so absurd to me that one half of our children become obese and the other anorexic or addicted to drugs. Makes you really think whether you should have kids.

PBS Frontline had a really shocking and very good program on Meth which can be seen again online: The Meth Epidemic (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/view/)

I would consider it a must see for every parent! Warning! There are some graphical scenes!

[kebaldwin]

I hear that all the ADD / ADHD drugs are also causing kids to start meth ???

http://www.crystalrecovery.com/Pages/FAQ.html

Also any youth or adult who have previously been given Ritalin or other stimulant to treat ADHD as a child, seem to be a 'natural addict' as the chemical transmission path in their brain has already been 'burned in'.

[bsheets]

I hadn't even heard of anyone using it in this way but when I was younger, however it occurred to me and I even considered it. With ecstacy, that is, crystal wasn't really around til I was a little older. It's just the kind of people that make their lives from drugs that scared the crap outta me hehehe.

Although I've been around people smoking it (I'm always the ONE in the room that sits back and waits to go home lol) and it didn't really seem much diff to people smoking pot or something. Speed is very different though - are these substances related?

It's the same mentality that leads some diabetes sufferers to miss their injection a morning or two in a row to lose a few pounds. It's a flaw in society that needs fixing or it will just eat people up.

e

[Lisa N]

I hear that all the ADD / ADHD drugs are also causing kids to start meth ???



I'd say that pretty much falls into the category of 'urban legend'.

http://www.crystalneon.org/html/meth/mental5.html

Will “Ritalin kids” become addicted to meth later on? This is a common myth, but not entirely true. Taking Ritalin as a child does not guarantee you will become addicted to methamphetamine, or any other stimulant, as an adult. Addictions develop for many reasons. While it’ makes sense why adults with ADD might find stimulants appealing, nothing dictates who will become “addicted.” Plenty of adults who took Ritalin as children (or who still do) never even experiment with street drugs or use them regularly.

[kebaldwin]

Taking Ritalin as a child does not guarantee you will become addicted to methamphetamine, or any other stimulant, as an adult

Some posters use the arguement "I know one person that it did not happen to ..." or "you can not gaurantee every person" and therefore deem it not true.

For example, I know many people that say low carbing does not work. But I know that it does.

Note that I have not said every kid that takes ADD medicine will be hooked on meth. What I have pointed out is
1. A rise in ADD medicines by young people
2. A rise in meth use by young people
3. People that know both and say "these kids are natural addicts".