On Meth Addiction - Research Paper Example

There were efforts to control them through regulation through the Food and Drug Administration as well as by law enforcement. However, these illicit drugs are still a part of our society, often having comorbidity with other aspects of crime, which disrupts our society. Methamphetamine is an extremely powerful narcotic. It has multiple ways of being ingested into the body. Sometimes, it is injected through the use of hypodermic needles, while other times it is snorted or smoked. Typically, snorting will have the quickest effect on the body due to the fact that methamphetamine is lipid soluble, which means it can interact past the blood brain barrier faster than any other route of administration.

It was and still is the cause of many problems in relation to drug abuse in our society. It enslaves the user through powerful chemical drug dependence. This works because it changes the brain on a fundamental level. Freud was one of the first psychologists to say that humans operate on a pleasure principle. This rewarding pathway in the brain is known as the dopaminergenic reward pathway. Dopamine is one of the primary rewarding neurotransmitters in the brain and is responsible for regulating many actions such as hunger, sex, etc.

Methamphetamine affects this system by causing a large increase in the amount of dopamine. This is why drug users feel such a high euphoric effect. The withdrawal effects of methamphetamine are also extremely unpleasant. Therefore, drug users self-administer more of the drug in order to not “crash”. As a result, they become chemically addicted. This occurs due to the fact that the brain rewires itself and does not secrete dopamine in the normal amounts of a person who does not use methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine users comment that while they are not using the drug that there is a lack of feeling and everything seems grey. This is a primary motivator in encouraging the user to continue using the drug as a result of physiological response. This physiological response is what drives the psychological and behavioral response. It works in both ways of classical and operant conditioning. Drug users learn that with the drug they will experience a state of euphoria. As a result, they develop not only the physiological dependence to the drug, but they also develop a psychological addiction.

This in turn fuels other aspects of crime. Methamphetamine is common in all social classes, however it affects the lower classes the most. Often, many of these lower class citizens do not have a surplus income in order to fuel their drug addiction. Thus, they turn to other criminal activities in order to supply the income required to fuel their habit. This exposure to the drug often also causes problems among families. Methamphetamine can tear families apart and often leaves children with parents behind bars.

Prostitution is also common for drug users in that they can take methamphetamine as collateral for sexual favors. The side effects of the use of methamphetamine are wide and varied. The fact that methamphetamine is a stimulant means that it promote a wide variety of anxiety and “twitchy” behavior. It also can lead to attentiveness problems as well as deficits in cognitive function and memory. As discussed previously, the dopaminergic reward system is highly stimulated when methamphetamine is in the system and that long-term use can lead to dopamine deficit.

This puts high, chronic methamphetamine use