RECIPE FOR A SCOURGE: INGREDIENTS AVAILABLE, CHEAP, EASY TO COOK

It can be easily made in a house or an apartment, and its main
ingredient can be purchased over the counter at the corner store.

Once the key ingredient, a standard component of cold remedies, is
brewed with an assortment of more toxic chemicals, it turns into a
highly addictive street drug -- methamphetamine -- that can lead to
crime and violence and ruin families.

"It's a total nightmare drug. It destroys your thinking, it destroys
your family life, your home," said Kathryn Jett, director of the
California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

In 2003, for example, a Riverside County mother was convicted of
child endangerment after the death of her infant son, who may have
ingested a lethal dose of the drug from her breast milk.

The problem of methamphetamine use is spreading. In California,
"meth" has become the leading substance that brings people into
publicly funded treatment centers, topping heroin and alcohol. In
much of the nation, law enforcement agencies consider meth their
greatest drug threat.

More than 1.3 million people are said to have used meth in 2003.

"This isn't a fringe drug. It's a drug that's moving in the
mainstream," Jett said.

With Congress pushing this week to restrict sales of the cold drug
that is key to methamphetamine, Jett and two university researchers
recently explained the drug's history and dangerous consequences:

Question: What goes into methamphetamine?

Answer: It is a synthetic drug and is "cooked" using a combination of
man-made chemicals, many of which are toxic. The primary ingredient
is pseudoephedrine, which can be found in cold medicines such as
Sudafed and NyQuil. Methamphetamine results when pseudoephedrine is
mixed with other easily available chemicals, including red
phosphorus, the substance on the tips of matches; anhydrous ammonia,
which is in farm fertilizer; battery acid; and a base, such as lye or
drain cleaner.

Because the elements are so common, meth is cheap to make. As a
result, while cocaine sells for $100 to $150 a gram, meth goes for
about $25 a gram.

Q: Why is it so attractive to users?

A: Meth creates a powerful euphoria. It stimulates excessive levels
of dopamine, the brain's natural pleasure chemical, said Richard A.
Rawson, associate director of UCLA's Integrated Substance Abuse
Programs, who has been studying meth use for 25 years.

The drug gives users a tremendous burst of energy, and a single dose
can be effective for up to 12 hours. (Cocaine's effect typically
lasts about an hour.) The drug also suppresses appetite, causing weight loss.

Q: What is harmful about it?

A: Meth is linked to severe skin and dental problems, causing some
users to lose their teeth. It can also lead to heart attack and
stroke. It affects parts of the brain that regulate judgment,
decision-making and self-control. Thus, meth users do things "we know
we should not do ... but we can't help ourselves," said Edythe
London, a UCLA professor of psychiatry and pharmacology.

Brain scans show that the cingulate gyrus, a part of the brain
important to self-control, is switched off in meth users, London said.

The drug can also cause irritability and paranoia, because the
stimulant affects the brain's response to danger and fear, Rawson
said. Intoxicated meth users can commonly be seen peeking out the
window. They may also say they are hearing whispers or they may work
obsessively on repetitive tasks.

"In extreme cases, you see full-blown psychosis," Rawson said.

Violence can result if addicts feel they need to fight against
imagined things that are chasing them, or if they are unable to
obtain another dose.

Q: How did meth become so popular?

A: Manufacture and use of the drug became an increasing problem in
the 1980s in the sparsely populated desert regions of San Bernardino,
Riverside and San Diego counties, where it was easy to operate
illicit labs without attracting attention, Rawson said.

By the end of the decade, Mexican criminal groups had started making
and selling the drug. Cartels began controlling meth production in
California and targeted Salt Lake City and Des Moines, Iowa, as
distribution hubs, he said.

Meth use migrated up the West Coast in the early 1990s, and by
mid-decade, Midwestern and Rocky Mountain states had reported
problems. By 2000, meth had become a problem in the South and the
Great Lakes states.

Q: When did the drug start to appear?

A: It was widely used during World War II to keep soldiers awake and
alert. In the 1960s, meth became popular among people working long
shifts, such as driving trucks or doing construction, as well as
athletes who thought it would boost their performance. Federal
officials moved to restrict use of the drug in 1965.

Today, meth is still largely used by working people, Rawson said.
"It's mostly affecting normal people working 40-hour-a-week jobs, and
in the Midwest you see it in farming communities," he said. "A lot of
workers find it useful, before it makes them crazy and gets them
addicted," leading to a loss of a job.

Meth has also affected about as many women as men. Women account for
half of all meth users, but make up only 30% of cocaine and heroin
users. They are attracted to the drug hoping to lose weight or get
through a grueling day at work or at home.

The drug has also become popular in the gay community, because it
enhances sexual arousal. But it also leads to riskier behavior,
prompting a rise in HIV infection rates.

Q: How are infants and children affected?

A: Mothers who expose their unborn children to methamphetamine tend
to give birth earlier, suffer a higher miscarriage rate and have
babies with abnormally small heads, Rawson said.

As they grow up, the children are often severely neglected by parents
addicted to meth. Children sometimes test positive for
methamphetamine just by being exposed to the fumes from homemade labs.

Q: Other than getting more users and manufacturers behind bars, what
else is government doing to address this problem?

A: About 35 states have some form of restriction on the sale of drugs
such as Sudafed, NyQuil and Claritin-D that contain pseudoephedrine.
California, for example, allows the sale of just three packages, or 9
grams, of pseudoephedrine in a single purchase.

Some national retailers, such as Albertsons, CVS, Target and
Walgreens, have acted on their own to move the cold drugs behind the
counter. In reaction, drug companies have begun marketing alternative
cold medicines that don't use pseudoephedrine.

Experts expect the measures to hamper the operations of smaller labs
run out of homes or apartments. But they will probably not affect the
super labs run by Mexican criminal groups, which produce about 70% of
the meth supply, Rawson said. The cartels import pseudoephedrine in
bulk from sources in China, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center.

Q: How hard is it to quit meth?

A: It is as difficult as giving up smoking, cocaine or heroin, Rawson
said. However, after meth use is dropped, it takes longer for the
brain to recover.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Methamphetamine Epidemic

Methamphetamine has become the most abused drug in California and
across most of the Western United States.

Primary Drug Abused By Prop. 36 Clients

(7/1/03 - 6/30/04)

California passed Prop. 36 in 2000, which lets some drug offenders
receive treatment instead of jail.

Meth 53%

Cocaine/crack 14%

Marijuana 12%

Heroin 10%

Alcohol 9%

Other 2%

Drug Abuse Nationwide

In a 2004 survey by the National Drug Intelligence Center, law
enforcement agencies were asked to identify the drug that poses the
greatest threat in their area. The following percentages in each
region named methamphetamine:

Pacific: 92%

Southwest: 66%

West: 87%

Southeast: 39%

Midwest: 38%

Northeast: 3%

Sources: California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, U.S.
Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Center