Amphetamines

Amphetamines are a commonly used drug amongst young people aged between 20-29. 8.9% of Australians have tried Amphetamines in their life, with 3.4% having used them in the last 12 months. However, 22% of 20-29 year olds have tried amphetamines and 4.8% have used them in the last month, which is well above the national average.

Amphetamine and methamphetamine are chemically very similar in structure. They are usually made in backyard labs, and are therefore of varying strength and purity. Many other substances can be mixed in with Amphetamines such as other drugs, sugar, glucose, bicarbonate of soda and ephedrine. They are usually taken by mouth, ntranasally (by 'snorting'), smoking or via injection.

Other common names for Amphetamines or Methamphetamines are aped, up, fast, louee, goey, whiz, pep pills, crystal meth, ice, shabu and uppers. They usually come in either a white to brown powder form, capsules, tablets, crystals or red liquid.

Amphetamines are synthetic Central Nervous System stimulants. Their action mimics that of the human body hormone, adrenaline, and includes the Ecstasy type drugs.

Short term effects of using Amphetamines include:

• A rush which includes speeding up of bodily activities such as heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. The mouth can dry up, sweating increases and headaches can occur.
• Amphetamine users usually report feeling more energetic and alert, increased confidence and reduced appetite.
• Some people can become irritable, anxious, depressed, hostile and aggressive. Panic attacks can also occur.
• Because of the impure nature of most amphetamines overdoses can result in strokes, heart failure, seizures and high body temperatures.
• Coming down can give the user feelings of violence, tension, radical mood swings, depression and total exhaustion. It can also cause shaking and feelings of nausea.

The long term effects of abusing amphetamines can be:

• Chronic sleeping problems
• Anxiety, paranoia and depression, possibly even psychosis
• High blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat
• Many long term amphetamine users are malnourished because of having a loss of appetite
• Aggressive tendencies
• Immune system damage from lack of sleep and malnourishment, leading to reduced resistance to infections.

Amphetamines can take varying time to be cleared from the body, depending on factors such as potency of the drug taken, weight, metabolism, amount of drug taken, whether the person has taken other drugs and the environment that the person is taking the drug in. Usually it will take between 1-2 days for the drug to be cleared from the system enough to be able to pass a drug test.

Amphetamine Chemical Structure