Teen Ink

What is the most devastating drug facing youth today? Methamphetamine is a substance that may be injected, swallowed, snorted, or smoked. Meth is odorless and tastes like hair spray. Hydrochloric acid, drain cleaner, battery acid, iodine flakes, acetone from nail polish remover, anhydrous ­ammonia from fertilizer, and ground-up matches are some of the substances cooked into meth. Few people are aware of the long-term health problems that can occur from using it, ­including convulsions, paranoia, anxiety, agitation, diarrhea, hallucinations, insomnia, and even stroke and heart attack.

Someone I know used this dangerous drug. “I would sit in the dark for hours just writing nonsense. I couldn’t watch TV ­because the shows didn’t make any sense,” she said. Her nose often bled, another side effect. Weight loss and scabbing, two of the most drastic and noticeable effects of meth, result from the chemical mixtures that eat away at users’ insides, and the hallucinated bugs that they see crawling everywhere cause them to scratch or pick at their skin.

Even more fatal consequences of this drug are STDs and AIDS; some users are willing to sell their bodies in exchange for the four- to 18-hour high. Users may even steal from their closest friends and family. Being a meth addict is like taking a pound of flesh because it not only consumes those who use it but also all that is dear to them.