Meth: The New Crank Of The 80's And Drug
Treatment Center "Killer" Of Today
Author: Lora French

"Mom, was it fun growing up in the eighties?" My 13-year-old
son asked me this morning. "Of course, it was fun," I replied.
"I had a blast." Those of us who experienced the end of the sex,
drugs, and rock & roll era had a blast. However, when the
eighties ended, so did our ignorance in terms of the
consequences that drugs would have on us and those who loved us.


If you were like me, you partied hard as a teen - drinking,
smoking pot, and in the small town in Nevada that I grew up in,
snorting bathtub crank – a highly addictive methamphetamine.
Shortly after my first Ozzy Osborne concert in January of 1989,
my parents drove me out of the fine state of Nevada and dropped
me off at my first of many drug treatment centers. At eighteen,
the fun had stopped, and I had to face the destruction that I
had created while using crank.

Crank was cheap, cooked in bathtubs, and cut with ephedrine.
Back then, it was known as the poor man's cocaine. Today, crank
is almost never found on the streets. Ephedrine is illegal, and
the bathtub labs designed to cook up a batch are a scientific
experiment of the past.

Addiction to methamphetamine, however, is not. Drug treatment
centers have seen methamphetamine addiction skyrocket as Crystal
Meth, crank's evil stepchild, has taken hold of many people
across the nation, including many in my hometown in Nevada.

Recently a report released by the office of Nevada's governor,
Jim Gibbons revealed alarming statistics. Of those who used
drugs, 45% of adults, 41% of adolescents and 82% of pregnant or
parenting women report that crystal meth is their drug of
choice. Per capita, Nevada has the highest meth use statistics
in the nation.1

If I remember correctly, Nevada was number one in the nation
for crank abuse in my youth as well. I don't know what it is
about the high desert that has created this phenomenon.
Definitely though, meth abuse is a reality, not just in Nevada
but across the nation.

Meth is usually smoked or injected, so the high is immediate.
Hallucinations and paranoia can occur once the drug is in the
system. The aging process speeds up. Teeth are destroyed. Skin
is picked until sores appear. Internal organs are ravaged. But
the addiction itself, the need for more, doesn't go away.
Attending a drug treatment center is almost inevitable for the
meth addict, and the number of meth addicts far outweighs the
resources available in the US, creating a problem for society
the likes of which have never been seen before. The drain of
meth addiction in every state in America is shocking and ranks
with poverty, hunger and illiteracy in terms of major problems
of the nation. On top of this, most programs are not very
successful with complete and lasting rehabilitation for addicts.


However, overcoming this addiction is possible. Some drug
treatment centers are more successful than others, and it is
important to ask about their success rate. The higher the
success rate, the more likely it is that their methods will
work. After going through several drug treatment centers in the
early 90's, I found one that worked at http://www.drugrehab.net.


Now, I have my own teenager who is so eager to ask me about my
youth, so curious about drugs, so interested in everything that
made the 80's a blast for me, including the music. At least he
asks questions, and I can say this, he will not go through his
teenage years ignorant of the effects of drugs and their
consequences.


About The Author: Lora French still listens to Ozzy Osborne
while writing articles on the effects of drugs and drug
rehabilitation. Visit http://www.drugrehab.net for more
information on a successful drug treatment center. If you plan
to reproduce this article, please include the link above.