Control of methamphetamine misuse

doi:10.1136/bmj.39225.469630.80

BMJ 2007;334:1176-1177 (9 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39225.469630.80

Editorials

Control of methamphetamine misuse

Policy should target substance misuse as a whole, rather thansingle substances

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive substance that has causedserious public health problems globally.¹ As it is relativelyeasy to manufacture from precursor substances, regulation ofprecursors has taken centre stage in global strategies for drugcontrol. Recently, the UK Medicines and Healthcare ProductsRegulatory Agency announced that the precursors pseudoephedrineand ephedrine, also used in flu remedies sold over the counter,may in future be available on prescription only.²

Methamphetamine was first synthesised in Japan in 1919 and hasbeen manufactured legally in the United States since the 1950s.Use declined during the 1970s when the public became aware ofthe harms of amphetamines and practitioners were inhibited fromprescribing them by the Controlled Substance Act (1970) www.answers.com/topic/single-convention-on-narcotic-drugs.However, when methamphetamine re-emerged in the 1980s, it hadbeen transformed into "ice," a smoked form of high purity thatproduces sustained intoxication. As it exists today, illicitmethamphetamine is . . . [Full text of this article]

Tracy D Gunter, assistant professor of psychiatry

Psychiatry Research, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA

tracy-gunter@uiowa.edu