For those of you not hip to the lingo, or who missed the wave of '90s T-shirts and bumper stickers that made this phrase a borderline cliche, a "tweaker" is a slang term for a methamphetamine user. The word itself conjures up images of white trash types one might see fleeing from police on an episode of "Cops," or perhaps the guy you see standing outside Circle K in a dirty wife- beater, fishing through the ashtray for a re-fry cigarette.
However, the problem extends so much further than just this stereotypical user. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, meth users are generally white, young and many of them are women (in part because meth causes weight loss). In 2003, a national survey on drug use and health revealed that 12.3 million Americans ages 12 and older reported experimenting with the drug at least once. Meth use has gone up almost 40 percent since 2000.
Unfortunately, a large number of individuals who have grown up in Arizona (a meth hot spot) have had some type of experience with meth - maybe through personal experimentation, through a loved one or perhaps some crazy addict stole your stereo to support their habit. The effects of a meth epidemic are far-reaching and this dangerous, highly addictive drug is getting into the hands of more people at a younger age.
Indeed, experimentation with alcohol and drugs may be a normal right of passage. But children who begin using in earlier adolescence are more vulnerable to serious addiction later. And tossing back a few beers is nowhere near being in the same league as ingesting a bunch of highly toxic chemicals that were probably mixed up in the kitchen of some degenerate.
Meth can have an abundance of nasty side effects, such as: extreme paranoia, irritability, cardiac arrhythmia, stroke, convulsions and a tendency towards crime and violence.
Another problem is that meth is relatively easy to make. The main ingredient is pseudoephedrine, found in allergy and cold medicines and can be purchased over the counter at drug stores. However, policy-makers are pushing for tighter regulations of pseudoephedrine, which is an important step in combating the problem.
Also, correctional facilities are overcrowded, understaffed and don't have high success rates when it comes to rehabilitating people. Unfortunately, after serving their sentence, most meth addicts are back on the street and back to their old habits.
Some say harsher penalties are the answer. But that would simply lead to more people overcrowding poorly staffed prisons.
There needs to be a greater focus on public awareness, education, rehabilitation for addicts and better funding all around.
We should take inmates that have been addicts for several years and make them do community service by speaking at drug awareness seminars. Perhaps as they stand before the audience - downtrodden, skinny, telling their tale of what meth really does to a person's life through cracked teeth and chapped lips - a few curious youths may think twice.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the "most effective treatments for methamphetamine addiction are cognitive behavioral interventions - designed to help modify the patient's thinking, expectancies and behaviors, and to increase skills in coping with various life stressors."
Although the drug is extremely addictive, it can be overcome. If sufficient action is not taken soon we can expect to see a lot more meth-related crimes and a general degradation of our communities.
Laura Graham is a journalism junior. Reach her at laura.graham@asu.edu.
