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The Quick and the Dead
By Mark N. Lardas
The latest rage among methamphetamine abusers is a pink-colored version of crystal meth. It is called strawberry quick—a play on the name of a popular brand of milk flavoring.
Strawberry quick is a crystal form of methamphetamine, but the crystals, or rocks, are a dark, translucent pink. It first appeared in late 2006. The first known seizure of this version of meth was in January 2007 in Nevada. Since then, it has appeared in California and Washington, and is spreading east. Sightings have been reported in New Mexico, Idaho, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota.
No one is really sure why it is colored pink. It may be a manufacturing quirk. It may just be plain old crystal meth, dyed pink to “brand” it. Like cigarette makers, manufacturers of illegal drugs know the importance of making their product appear to be different and hip.
What has people worried is that strawberry quick may be sweetened and flavored. It looks like a popular candy, Pop Rocks. The fear is that this is a kiddy version of meth, something intended to suck teens into using methamphetamine.
No one is sure. Police laboratories do not test for flavoring ingredients. And no one—other than people dumb enough to be drug abusers—wants to taste seized samples to see if they are flavored. Meth is nasty stuff.
It could be sweetened. Crystal meth is extremely bitter. It is so bitter even users hate the taste. Adding sugar makes it easier to take.
It may not be sweetened or flavored intentionally to make it more attractive to teens and preteens. A dealer might see that as a benefit, however. Just like cigarette makers, drug dealers want their customers as young as possible—before they get smart enough to realize how dumb using it is.
Meth works by stimulating dopamine, a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters are chemicals naturally produced in your brain. They send messages to neurons—nerve cells—that help your brain process information.
Dopamine sends a signal that tells the neurons that you feel good. It is naturally produced when you do something you enjoy, from eating a piece of chocolate to listening to a song you like. Dopamine is sometimes called the pleasure neurotransmitter.
Take meth and you flood your brain with something it thinks is dopamine. It causes neurons to crank out more dopamine. You feel ten feet tall and bulletproof. You think you are Superman (or Superwoman), even though you are still just the plain old you that you were before taking meth.
You can do really dumb things when you think you are something that you are not, like really trying to leap tall buildings, or from tall buildings, in a single bound. Maybe picking a fight with someone twice your size. Meth makes people aggressive.
Meth has other very bad effects, too. When it wears off you crash. Natural dopamine levels plunge because you have been overproducing it. You go from bliss to blah.
That makes it highly addictive. You feel like you need to have another hit of meth, not to feel good, just to feel human. Getting meth soon becomes the only important thing in your life. You forget your hobbies, your friends, your job, and your family.
Meth plays other games with your mind. It tickles all sorts of other neurons, too. You become unable to sleep soundly so you stay awake until it wears off. You are not only awake; you have to be on the move. Meth abusers are fidgety, restless, and twitchy.
It also causes hallucinations. You might feel invisible insects crawling around on your skin. You cannot see them or touch them, but they seem to be touching you. Or you might see things that no one else can because they are not there. You just think they are.
Get enough contradictory signals from your brain, and you start getting paranoid. If things you cannot see are crawling on you, or you can see things that are not there, you start mistrusting the world around you.
That is just what meth does to you by acting on your mind. It affects the body, too. Your heart beats faster when you are on meth. That raises blood pressure dangerously high. It can cause a stroke. Picture yourself at 20 relearning how to use one side of your body. Taken orally, meth rots your teeth. They start falling out. This is called “meth mouth.” Injected it puts you at risk for hepatitis and HIV.
Because of these dangers meth use in the United States has plunged. See why law enforcement and health officials worry about strawberry quick? They fear something so attractive to kids might cause meth use to rise again.
Smart people avoid meth. So do smart teens. There are safer highs; the natural ones you get from doing something fun is the safest of all.
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