When you take meth, the following occurs: Dopamine helps to regulate emotions and also helps to control movement abilities, sleep functions, and memory and thinking processes. When meth enters the brain quickly through injection, dopamine levels are increased, which causes a surge of pleasure. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) explains that meth interacts with dopamine levels in the brain, causing a spike in the levels of the naturally occurring neurotransmitter. There is no safe amount of illegal methamphetamine that can be injected for recreational use.
Injecting meth sends the drug into the system so fast that it can have unpredictable and unintended side effects that are difficult to control. Injecting meth can increase all the possible hazards of taking the drug, including the risk for a life-threatening overdose, emotional and physical complications, drug dependence, and addiction involving meth.
When injected, the drug quickly enters the bloodstream for an intense and rapid-onset high. It can be abused by snorting, smoking, swallowing, or injecting it. Most meth use involves illicit meth created in a clandestine laboratory. Meth is a potent and powerful synthetic stimulant drug that does have some medicinal uses as an AHDH and obesity medication. About 684,000 people in the United States battled meth addiction in 2016. Meth UseĪccording to a 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health survey, about 667,000 American adults were considered to be current users of illicit methamphetamine or meth. While certain practices, such as using new needles every time, can mitigate harm, there is no safe way to inject meth.