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Types Of Methamphetamine

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The Myth & Misinformation About Strawberry Meth

Street Names For Methamphetamine

You need not concern yourself with the street names used for meth, because from Seattle, Washington, to Toronto, Ontario, to Cape Town, South Africa, they're all different.  There are probably at least a hundred different slang names for meth, but the most popular are:  meth, crystal, ice, glass, Tina (most popular name for meth in the gay community,) and "P"  (most popular name for meth in New Zealand and Australia.),

As we said, there are hundreds of street names for methamphetamine.  So rather than trying to memorize them all, we have some better advice.  If you want to know street names so that you can be better informed about what your child may be talking or texting about, phone the Community Relations department of your local police force.  They probably have people there that know the slang names for different drugs right in your area.  And if you think your child may be involved with drugs, another option is to sit down and have a talk with them.  We have a tutorial on that which is called "Talking To Teens About Drugs & Alcohol."

Purities Of Methamphetamine

When you start talking about the purity of methamphetamine, you get into another fuzzy area where there is no exact "science."  That's because the purity of meth can depend on:

• The care and diligence of the person that manufactured it.
• The method of manufacture that they used and the chemicals used.
• How much the dealer has "stepped" on it, or how much it's been "cut," or adulterated.

As a result, the purity of meth can range from virtually 100% pure, to as low as 10% pure.  So it's really anybody's guess as to how pure a batch of meth is until it's actually analyzed.  But there are some common sense factors you can throw in there which can make the issue a little clearer for you.  And they look like this:

First, ideally users of meth want to be buying the purest form of meth, at the lowest price.  And generally, the purest forms of meth are "crystal" and "ice."  Most users prefer crystal methamphetamine and ICE methamphetamine if they can get it, because they are the easiest types of meth to smoke.  Secondly, even most small-time meth cooks have discovered the additional steps required to produce meth in crystal and ice form, and it always commands a higher price because of the purity, or implied purity.  (Not all crystal and ice is cooked properly.)  Third, most meth on the streets is either made in domestic superlabs, or imported from Mexico and elsewhere.  In both cases, crystal and ice are the most popular forms, because they command the highest wholesale price.

So combine these three factors and here's what you learn:

The most common form of meth found on the street today (in most regions with a "mature" meth market) is either in crystal or ice form, because that's what users want, and suppliers have to meet that demand.  The second thing you learn is that at the very least, in general, most meth today in 2008 starts out purer than the meth of just a few years ago.  So all other factors being equal, meth is purer and more potent today than it's ever been.

However, as any drug makes it's way down the supply chain, everybody wants to maximize their profits.  And how you do that with methamphetamine is to "step on it," or dilute or cut it.  And how much of that goes on before it reaches the hands of the end user is anybody's guess.  But we can assume that it's going to have to be good enough to satisfy the user.  So if you're selling a user crystal meth and they're paying a good buck for it, it better be something more than low grade, or they'll find another dealer.  (Well not always, but most of the time.)

So here's the bottom-line.  If you hear someone say "the purity of meth is down, up, or has remained stable," ask yourself how they could possibly make that statement?  They would have to be talking about meth that's been seized and tested for purity, and that represents such a tiny amount of the meth out there that it's a useless statistic.  That's comparable to trying to assess the exact composition of Daytona Beach by looking at ten random grains of sand.  It's simply ridiculous.

Flavored Or Flavoured Methamphetamine

Separating The Myth From The Reality

Pictured right is "flavored" methamphetamine mixed in with regular crystal methamphetamine, which we first alerted our clients to way back in October of 2006.  It's also referred to as strawberry quick.  Many regions are now just beginning to learn about this form of meth, and this usually includes some level of temporary hysteria on the part of ill-informed parents, educators, or law enforcement.  Fanning the flames of this hysteria are certain entities who always need a new "drug scare of the month" in order to rationalize their continued existence.  You can find their statements of deliberate misinformation in the left sidebar.

So we're going to tell you the truth about strawberry meth, and other flavors of meth, and once you know the facts and common sense behind this issue, we're confident you'll agree that all the scary warnings and "alerts" you're hearing are completely ridiculous.  So here are some pretty basic facts to consider:

Fact One - The Methamphetamine "Community"

The meth "community" - users, dealers and cooks are an extremely tight-knit" group.  One of the most pronounced features of meth use is extreme paranoia, and as a result, meth circles are extremely hard to penetrate because they they trust no one. To that end, the idea of a meth dealer risking serious jail time by selling to a child and thereby placing their trust in that child is rather ludicrous. As a rule, they simply would not do it.  Moreover, most of the recovering meth addicts that we know (and we know several hundred) tell us that even within meth circles, most users would find it highly offensive that the drug was being targeted toward children.

Are there possible exceptions to that rule?  Of course there are!  There are exceptions to every rule.  But it would be counter-intuitive to the whole way most people involved with meth thinks and operates.

Fact Two - The Methamphetamine User

As far as a user giving meth to a child, this is also something that would very unusual, since meth users are extremely selfish with their personal supply. Remember, they're not taking this drug because they prefer to, they're taking it to function. As a result, it's not something they're given to share with anyone.  So again, could it happen?  Yes, it could happen.  But is it likely to happen?  Is it likely to become commonplace?  No.

Fact Three - The Economics Of Methamphetamine

Then of course, there's the more obvious economic considerations of supply, demand and price. At $ 20,000 to $ 75,000 per pound, meth is obviously not a drug highly conducive for selling to young children, as few kids have access to that kind of money. Ask yourself, what does a gram of meth cost?  In a few regions, rock-bottom is $ 40.00, and double, triple, or quadruple that in most other jurisdictions.  So the idea of a meth dealer thinking they're going to develop a viable, long-term market among kids is really quite absurd. Again, could it happen? Well of course it could. But you could also win the state lottery, and the probabilities are similar.  The last time we checked, there was no "epidemic" of children asking their parents for $ 150.00 advance on their allowance so they can buy some "candy."

Fact Four - The Meth Making Process

Adding anything with a sugar base into the meth "cooking mix" would be extremely difficult, and would have the potential of destroying the entire batch.  If the meth cook is also a user, they're not going to do anything that is going to jeopardize ruining what might have taken a lot of risk and work to prepare.  And if they're a superlab, above all else, they're businesspeople, and they're only interested in producing a lot of high-grade "product" fast, and getting it out to market.  Fiddling around with flavors is not high on their priority list.  The idea of an organized crime syndicate trying to lure kids into becoming addicted to meth by offering it in flavors makes as much sense as suggesting that during Prohibition, Al Capone was making strawberry flavored gin to make young kids become alcoholics.

Fact Five - The Lack Of Evidence

But let's say we're completely wrong about the previous four points.  Strawberry and other flavors of meth have been around for almost two years, and dire warnings and alerts about it being sold to children have been around for just as long.  So by now, there must be some statistics, right?  So let's ask some fair questions:

• How many confirmed cases have there been of any children being sold flavored meth?

• How many children currently in treatment for meth addiction began their drug use because of taking flavored meth thinking it was candy?

• How many children have inadvertently eaten flavored meth because they saw it lying around and thought it was candy?

• How many former meth addicts, dealers or cooks have been charged or convicted of deliberately organizing a campaign of selling flavored meth to children, or for that matter any meth to children?

The answer to every one of these questions is either "zero," or a number so small it's quite obvious there's no grand conspiracy going on here, no reason to keep your kids hidden inside the house, and certainly no reason to give them one more thing to be terrified about.  Kids have enough real things to worry about today without being the victims of hysteria created by concerned adults jumping to conclusions, and other adults and organizations trying to sell their latest fear campaign in the "war on drugs."

The reasons why strawberry and other flavours of meth are out there are really quite straightforward, and have nothing to do with who the product is targeted at.  And that's explained on the next page

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