Drug Intelligence Brief

THE FORMS OF METHAMPHETAMINE
April 2002

INTRODUCTION

Commonly referred to on the street as speed, meth, ice, crystal, or glass, methamphetamine is a synthetically produced central nervous system stimulant that produces effects similar to cocaine. Because it metabolizes much slower than cocaine, methamphetamine has longer lasting effects. It produces a number of dose-related effects including increased alertness and euphoria, as well as increases in heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and body temperature. Agitation, tremors, hypertension, memory loss, hallucinations, psychotic episodes, paranoid delusions, and violent behavior can result from chronic abuse. Withdrawal from high doses of methamphetamine often produces severe depression. Methamphetamine may be either injected, ingested orally, snorted, or smoked.

Illicit methamphetamine, which is almost exclusively methamphetamine hydrochloride, is sold in powder, ice, and tablet forms. Powder methamphetamine, the most common form available in the United States, is produced domestically and also is smuggled into the country from Mexico. Traditionally, Asian-produced ice was almost exclusively found in Guam, Hawaii, and parts of California; however, increased domestic production of this form of methamphetamine has increased availability to several other areas of the country previously untouched by exposure to ice. Methamphetamine tablets, primarily manufactured in Burma, have been smuggled into the United States, especially to northern California and the Los Angeles area.

POWDER

Powder methamphetamine—also known as crystal methamphetamine—is the form most commonly encountered across the United States. It is a bitter-tasting, water-soluble powder, with colors ranging from dingy white to reddish brown, depending on the manufacturing process. The method of administration varies across geographic regions, but powder is usually injected or snorted; however, it can be orally ingested or smoked.

Powder methamphetamine was once primarily made and sold by outlaw motorcycle gangs such as the Hells Angels. However, since the mid-1990s, Mexican criminal groups have dominated the market. They manufacture methamphetamine in large clandestine laboratories, primarily located in Mexico and California, and distribute it across the United States. “Cooks” also produce powder methamphetamine in small independently operated makeshift laboratories, especially in the Midwest. Although the manufacturing process is relatively simple, fires and explosions often occur due to a combination of inexperience and careless handling of volatile chemicals. Dumped toxic waste and fumes emitted from these laboratories also create significant health hazards. Regardless of size, clandestine methamphetamine laboratories exact a great toll on local communities.

Although thousands of small laboratories operate in the United States, the majority of methamphetamine distributed across the country is manufactured in “super labs”—laboratories capable of producing 10 pounds or more of methamphetamine in a 24-hour period. The capability to produce 10-pound quantities of methamphetamine generally indicates a large organizational structure rather than a small independent operation. “Super labs” are almost exclusively located in California.

Once considered a west coast phenomenon, methamphetamine abuse and illicit manufacturing have spread across the nation to the Midwest, Northwest, and portions of the South. Some indicators currently show stabilization in the abuse of methamphetamine; nonetheless, the record amounts of powder methamphetamine trafficking and abuse in the United States during the 1990s, resulted in a devastating impact on communities across the nation.

ICE

Ice—also known as glass—is similar in appearance to rock candy, crushed ice, or broken glass. Ice contains the same active chemical compound as powder methamphetamine, but undergoes a recrystallization process in which some impurities in the methamphetamine are removed. The finished product is allowed to dry into crystal chunks that are broken into rocks for sale.

Ice is a very pure, smokable form of methamphetamine that is more addictive than other forms of the substance. When smoked, highly concentrated doses of the drug are delivered instantaneously into the user’s system and may cause more compulsive use, severe paranoid delusions, and hallucinations. Usually smoked in a glass pipe, hollowed aluminum can, or light bulb, several “hits” can be obtained from a single gram of this substance. In a method of smoking sometimes referred to as “chasing the dragon,” a term commonly associated with smoking opium or heroin, users heat ice on a piece of aluminum foil and inhale the released vapors—usually through a straw or similar device.

Historically, criminal groups from South Korea, Taiwan, or China supplied ice to Guam, Hawaii, and parts of California. Production, distribution, sale, and consumption of ice in the Los Angeles area have been centered in the Asian community. In the mid-1990s, however, traffickers from Mexico, operating out of Los Angeles, began supplying powder methamphetamine to ethnic Asian criminal organizations and gangs on the west coast and in Hawaii for conversion to ice. Mexican criminal groups also are producing ice and selling it for significantly less than rival Asian trafficking groups. The increased availability of Mexican-produced ice has increased abuse in areas of the country that were previously untouched. Ice use is still most prevalent in Guam, Hawaii, and parts of California, but has spread to new areas including Ohio, Florida, New York, and Virginia.

TABLETS

The tablet form of methamphetamine has been popular throughout much of Southeast and East Asia; however, Southeast Asian-produced methamphetamine tablets are recent phenomena in the United States. To date, most methamphetamine pills have been found in northern California and the Los Angeles area. Frequently referred to by their Thai name, yaba, the tablets are a composite of methamphetamine and caffeine. In the United States, the tablets are commonly reddish-orange or green, and fit inside the end of a drinking straw. They have a variety of logos, with “WY” the most common. Methamphetamine pills are normally ingested orally, although they can be crushed into powder and administered.

Southeast Asian methamphetamine tablets are produced by large drug trafficking organizations in Burma. The United Wa State Army, a former insurgent group and Burma’s largest heroin trafficking organization, is the preeminent producer of methamphetamine tablets in Southeast Asia. Its primary market is the neighboring country of Thailand.

Southeast Asian traffickers, mainly Thai or Lao nationals, and U.S. citizens/resident aliens whose families have emigrated from those countries, dominate the trafficking of methamphetamine tablets in the United States. The tablets are primarily sent from Southeast Asia by mail, and, to a lesser extent, by either courier, air, or maritime cargo. Most of the tablets seized in the United States arrived through the international mail system, and were destined for recipients in northern California and the Los Angeles area.

Although it is currently believed that Southeast Asian methamphetamine pills are brought to the United States primarily for sale to the Asian community, demand may expand to other communities. It is possible that methamphetamine tablets will become popular within the “rave” party scene, given the similar appearance to other tablet form “club drugs,” such as 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also known as Ecstasy.

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