METH USE QUICKLY DAMAGES THE BODY

MOOSE JAW -- The immediate high from crystal meth may be unbeatable, but
long-term use of the the drug could ravage the human body and mind.

"It causes severe damage not just to your brain and by producing
psychiatric symptoms, but also it causes severe damage to other systems
like the cardiovascular system and central nervous system," said Dr.
Dhanapal Natarajan, chief psychiatrist for Mental Health Services in
Regina. "If you ignore this in the early stage, you will end up with a
permanent psychotic state."

Dr. Leo Lanoie, Medical Health Officer for the Prince Albert Parkland
Health Region, emphasized the psychiatric and psychological effects are
only half the story where methamphetamines are concerned.

"They make your heart rate go up, your blood pressure go up, they make you
sweat, they make your pupils dilate," said Lanoie, a specialist in
addictions medicine.

"With overdoses people get so much muscle contraction that they get a
break-down of muscle . . . which can actually cause kidney failure (because
of muscle particles entering the blood stream)."

Heart attack and stroke can be deadly effects of an overdose. With
long-term meth use, bodies lose normal control over blood pressure and
pulse rate, arteries harden, the heart is damaged. Neurological changes
make users weak and twitchy. Men can experience erectile dysfunction.

Crystal meth and other forms of methamphetamine are stimulants which act on
the pleasure centre of the brain. Meth causes that nerve centre to release
excessive amounts of dopamine, which controls the release of adrenaline.

Meth use can also cause hypersexuality, leading to indiscriminate,
unprotected sex, increasing the incidence of AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases.

The powerful release of pleasure hormones is what makes meth so addictive.
When a user comes down from such an extreme high, the crash is a harsh
contrast and that the person may develop the abstinence syndrome, a
psychological type of withdrawal.

"The withdrawal symptoms are very, very unpleasant . . . they get into a
very depressive mood and increase the aggression associated with that,"
said Natarajan. "They're craving for the drug and the easy way to get out
of these unpleasant symptoms is to take one more dose. So that sustains the
habit. That way, you get hooked on this with probably less than five uses."

Meth users are also prone to seizures and quickly develop a tolerance to
the drug, which means higher doses are required to create the same level of
euphoria originally created.

The end result of chronic use can be brain damage which impairs memory
function in a way similar to Alzheimer's disease. Former users of meth may
experience difficulty retaining new information.

Psychotic flashbacks can be triggered by meth and may reoccur for as long
as two years after users are clean. Lanoie explained that these are known
as pseudo-hallucinations.

"If you have a true hallucination, you're not aware of it. If you have a
pseudo-hallucination, you see it, but you know it's not real -- and that
scares the heck out of people."

Auditory and tactile hallucinations are a common result of high doses. With
the tactile hallucinations, users experience the sensation of something on
their body.

Users can also experience paranoid delusions coupled with aggression, which
makes even emergency medical treatment difficult. Recovery from chronic
methamphetamine use is extremely difficult as people develop depression and
what's known as anhedonia.