The Dark Crystal - Crystal Meth, Paranoia, Delusions and Hallucinations

Written by Gail Johnson

In 2002, UCLA School of Medicine neurologist Linda Chang published "Perfusion MRI and Computerized Cognitive Test Abnormalities in Abstinent Methamphetamine Users" in Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging. The study found that ex-users were up to 30 percent slower to complete tasks requiring working memory than nonusers.

"The slower reaction times on the computerized tasks...are suggestive of subclinical Parkinsonism in individuals who abused meth," Chang's study stated.

DIFFICULTY REMEMBERING things is a consequence of meth use to which 18-year-old Vancouver resident Kasper can testify. Although he quit meth more than a year ago, he says his memory is shot. He can't recall anything he learned in school.

Wearing a studded leather jacket, a ring in his nose, and black from head to toe, the burly youth looks older than his years. When he's not at his Chinatown apartment taking care of his pet rat, Shithead, he hangs around at Dusk to Dawn. He started using meth when his mom kicked him out of the house; it was the middle of winter and his brother suggested the drug to stay warm.

"It had a crab-apple taste, like crab apples right off the trees," the amiable Kasper says at the youth centre. "I liked it because of its taste. If you like it, you want to do it more and more and more. The next thing I know, I'm in Vancouver making it in my hotel."

He continued using for two or three years--he couldn't keep track of what year it was--until, after so much sleep deprivation, he hit a breaking point.

"I put an eighth of weed and a point of crystal meth on the table," he says. "I thought, 'Do I smoke this weed and get baked out of my fucking tree, or do I smoke this meth and stay up for two days and do something I think is constructive but that's just a big fucking waste of my time?' I ended up flushing the meth down the toilet and smoking myself stupid. When I see people doing meth now, I just tell them to do that.

"Getting drunk and smoking pot is a lot better than crystal meth. I've seen people make it in their bathtubs. They pour Drano, ammonia, battery acid, and all this other crap in there. You end up coughing up blood and puking blood up. I'd recommend heroin a lot more than crystal meth. And I did not enjoy heroin."

Kasper isn't exaggerating when he says crystal meth is full of crap. Mixed together, the substances can explode or give off toxic fumes that attack mucous membranes. Yet the drug isn't that hard to make. Mom-and-pop labs can be set up in high-rise apartments, storage sheds, and basements. Recipes downloaded from the Internet call for ephedrine (found in cold medication and decongestants), rubbing alcohol, methanol, lithium, and ammonia, among other ingredients. Take this excerpt from an on-line source:

"Dilute HCl--also called Muriatic acid--can be obtained from hardware stores, in the pool section. NaOH--also called lye--can be obtained from supermarkets in the 'drain cleaner' section....Ethyl Ether--aka Diethyl Ether--Et-O-Et--can be obtained from engine starting fluid....Desoxyephedrine--can be obtained from 'VICKS' nasal inhalers....Distilled water--it's really cheap, so you have no reason to use the nasty stuff from the tap. Do things right."

Given the prevalence of meth in Vancouver, the city is a prime spot for more research. UBC clinical psychologist Tania Lecomte is applying for funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to study methamphetamine and psychosis. Her team will do magnetic-resonance-imaging scans to see if there are structural changes or neural damage in meth users' brains; it will also explore psychosocial rehabilitation.

"I worked in first-episode psychosis for a while, and I would work with clients and do diagnostic interviews," Lecomte says in a phone interview. "In a lot of cases, crystal meth is what caused them to come to the hospital. It seems to have totally changed the personality and behaviour of street youth."

The Vancouver Agreement (a partnership of the federal, provincial, and local governments to foster the city's development) has funded a small study to get input from users. Theo Rosenfeld, who runs Pala Community Development, which supports harm reduction, is conducting the review. In a phone interview, he explains he has tried meth and although he never got hooked, he can see why so many kids are.

"Given the housing options, if I didn't have a place to sleep I don't know if I could be off speed," Rosenfeld says. "It feels as if life is worth living....You're not going to give that up if you've never felt that way before."

Rosenfeld says he was surprised at MARC's efficiency during that first November meeting.

"It was the most intelligent, collaborative response to a drug issue I've ever worked in, in any city I've ever been," he remarks. "Usually these meetings are full of catcalling, booing, and hissing. People are genuinely concerned."

One of the most pressing concerns is treatment. A combination of antidepressant and antipsychotic medication seems to have promising results, but other possibilities need investigation. Then there's the lack of funding, resources, and staff, thanks largely to government cutbacks.

"If you cut off your hand, you go to the hospital and they'll fix it. I'd like to see [drug] treatment work like that," Dusk to Dawn's Steven Smith says. "Youth should be able to say, 'I need help and I need it now.'...It's a really hard drug to quit. They need a lot of support and care, and it's just not there."

There are 10 beds allocated to youth detox services in Vancouver.

SINCE NOVEMBER, MARC members have formed subcommittees that meet every two months. Jennifer Vornbrock, who's heading the group's treatment-and-prevention arm, says the next step is to see what can be done with existing resources. Because those involved recognize the seriousness of Vancouver's problem, there's no room for politics or self-interest.

"This isn't the speed your parents took," says Vornbrock, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority's manager of youth, women's, and population health. "It's 10 percent ephedrine and 90 percent ammonia. It's not a drug you want to play around with."

Back in Tsawwassen, Jake has no shortage of tales about the damage crystal meth has done to his own life. He sold a new truck for a pitiful sum to get drug money, dropped out of school in Grade 10, and has essentially lost his youth.

"When we were kids, we used to have fun," Jake says. "Now I've lost all my friends to drugs. You can't keep friends because you're antisocial and paranoid."

Perhaps the lingering delusions are the saddest part of Jake's story. Not even 20, he can't make it through a day without antipsychotics.

"They calm me down," he says. "I thought I could detox on my own. Now it's about staying clean one day at a time. It's about staying alive."

Story by: By Gail Johnson
Reprinted with permission from the Georgia Straight newspaper

next: Where to Get Help For Mental Health Problems
~ back to articles on the schizophrenia library
~ all articles on schizophrenia
~ all articles on schizoaffective disorder
~ thought disorders homepage