Crystal Meth

Question: How can adderall be compared to crystal meth?

(Posted by: Conner Ankerstein on 2010-04-04 13:43:59)

They are both schedule 2 drugs and yet meth is terrible and kills thousands a year and destroys your brain and your face. I have to take adderall for my adhd and It is freaky to think they are on the same schedule! why is this. I do understand that Adderall can be dangerous but not nearly as meth? meth is made out of crap like gasoline and paint thinner how can that be like adderall?

Posted by: kevohill on 2010-04-04, 14:18:12

Duke is right in saying that they're both amphetamines. The meth that you may be thinking of crystal meth, which isn't close to the pharmaceutical form. "Crystal " is generally the most abused form, in which it's a crystalline solid (a "rock "); this is the stuff made in the meth labs that are frequently featured on the news. Crystal is far more dangerous than true methamphetamine since its production isn't FDA-regulated and it therefor may contain many impurities. These impurities may be chemicals remaining from synthesis or they may be other [and, potentially, more addictive] drugs entirely. The fact that abusers smoke, snort, and inject meth also introduces other dangers: emboli, blood-borne diseases... Many of the methamphetamine-related deaths are actually caused by risky behavior after taking the drug. The euphoric "high " lowers inhibitions [and makes one pretty stupid], increasing the likelihood of dangerous behavior. The fact that many meth-users also have other drug addictions doesn't help lower the death rate. In the case of overdose, users aren't given precisely-measured doses (as one would have when taking a prescribed drug), so the potential for using too much is much, much greater. As long as you don't feel "weird " when you take Adderall, and as long as you're regularly seeing a physician/ psychiatrist who prescribes for you (and actually is competant with respect to its addictive nature), I wouldn't worry too much about it. While you might develop a tolerance to it, as long as you're taking the prescribed dosage, an [abusive] addiction is very unlikely.

Posted by: Duke8787 on 2010-04-04, 13:48:34

They are both amphetamines and "speed " up your heart rate and therefore almost all your body's processes. Meth amphetamine is much more potent and has more potential to damage your body. It also has a higher addiction rate, due to a feeling of great elation or "high " that comes with accelerated heart rate. For Methamphetamine, the methyl allows it a little better fat solubility and thus better penetration into the brain.

Posted by: netraven5000 on 2010-04-04, 20:08:36

The simplest answer: dosage. Most of the other ADHD drugs are various types of stimulants. The reason they're less dangerous than meth is because many of them are specially formulated or use specially designed capsules that make them release the drugs over a period of time rather than all at once. They're also usually relatively low doses. The maximum dosage for a single pill of Concerta is 54MG (and the maximum they can prescribe is 72MG - two 36MG) - and Concerta releases its medicine over an 8-12 hour period. If you were just taking meth straight-up, you'd get all that at once. Nowadays, these pills also have various "security measures " to make sure you don't simply break open the capsule and take all the drugs at once. So I guess the answer is this: it's controlled. Taking Adderall or Concerta to get high is no less dangerous than taking meth to get high - but taking them as they are prescribed to help you with ADHD (or depression, or anything else they prescribe these for) is far less dangerous than taking meth because you're taking accurately-measured amounts, and the amount of drugs in your body is being well-regulated (unless you slip up - missing a dose doesn't hurt your body, and trust me, forgetting that you already took it is a mistake you only make once before you decide to come up with a system to make sure it doesn't happen again).