Methamphetamine: from drug to substance of abuse

By Cristiano Antonino On Dec 12, 2022

Methamphetamine was born in 1919 in Japan thanks to chemist Akira Ogata who first synthesized it from the plant Ephedra vulgaris

In 1920 methamphetamine was patented and marketed as a drug under the name Methedrine[1]

However, it has limited therapeutic use and most methamphetamine is produced in clandestine laboratories in the United States and the Far East.

Compared with other substances, such as cocaine, the feeling of well-being that comes from using methamphetamine lasts longer.

This would explain why in just a few years this substance has become one of the most widely consumed new drugs.

Methamphetamine can be obtained through different techniques that depend on the starting chemical reagent, called the precursor.

The most widely used techniques in Europe are those involving ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, substances that can be extracted from certain drugs. For this reason, many European countries have increased the restriction on the sale of some medicines based on these substances.

For this reason, on December 13, 2020, the new Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 2020/1737 was published for the inclusion of a whole range of precursors of substances that can then give rise to the production of methamphetamine.

However, the final quality of the product depends heavily on the skill and experience of those who produce it, not just the starting precursor[2].

Where does the methamphetamine we find in Europe come from?

In a report compiled in 2017 by the EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction), it is highlighted that methamphetamine is among the dominators of the new synthetic drugs market.

In 2015 alone, in fact, law enforcement found and destroyed some 291 clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in Europe, 263 of which were in the Czech Republic.

8000 is the number of methamphetamine seizures in 2015 amounting to about 0.5 tons of the substance seized.

Based on the number of laboratories found and seizures of both methamphetamine and its precursors, it is understood how the Czech Republic represents the largest producer of methamphetamine in Europe.

Pharmacological effects of methamphetamine

From a pharmacological point of view, methamphetamine leads to a strong feeling of energy and well-being as it affects normal dopamine levels.

The effects after an oral intake occur after about thirty minutes and can last for several hours.

It can also be used primarily as an appetite inhibitor, so it is useful in cases of obesity problems but also as a doping substance to increase aggressiveness and resistance to fatigue in many sports disciplines.

Methamphetamine can easily become addictive in those who take it on a daily basis

Frequent users often experience problems with concentration, anxiety, hypertension, irritability, schizophrenia, and in the most severe cases, cardiovascular problems that can lead to death (in some deaths, plasma concentrations were above 0.5 mg/L)[3].