UCLA Study: Babies Exposed to Methamphetamine and Alcohol

Every year countless babies are born with defects or disorders as a result of the mothers actions during pregnancy. The substances a mother consumes, just like the food she eats, eventually finds its way to the fetus greatly increasing the chances of the baby having health problems. Extensive research has been done in the way of studies and experiments that prove that the effects of drugs and alcohol are monumental.

HealthDay News reported that a study done by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that babies exposed to methamphetamine and alcohol before birth have smaller caudate nucleus regions in the brain than non-exposed children or children exposed to alcohol only in the womb. What are caudate nucleus regions?

The caudate nucleus helps with:

• learning
• memory
• motor control
• motivation

Researchers who worked on the study compared and contrasted brain scans of 13 children exposed to alcohol in the womb, 21 children exposed to both methamphetamine and alcohol, and 27 children whose mothers did not use anything. "We know that alcohol exposure is toxic to the developing fetus and can result in lifelong brain, cognitive and behavioral problems," said researcher Elizabeth Sowell of the University of California at Los Angeles. "In this study, we show that the effects of prenatal meth exposure, or the combination of meth and alcohol exposure, may actually be worse. Our findings stress the importance of drug abuse treatment for pregnant women."

This information is not all that surprising, if alcohol is bad for a baby, then alcohol and meth would be terrible. Drugs and alcohol rob a child of their chances for success, babies need pollutant free environments to develop in; otherwise Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and, or, a sleuth of other health problems will result. There are many drug and alcohol treatment facilities that specialize in the recovery of pregnant addicts; any pregnant women that wants assistance getting clean, have the opportunity to give their baby a chance at life.

The findings were published March 17, 2010 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Methamphetamine Cooking in Vehicles Back Seat

Police in Tennessee had an interesting New Year's Day when they found a man passed out in his car at a gas station in Murfreesboro. Not a big deal, unless, you have a batch of methamphetamine cooking in your vehicle's back seat. According to the AP, "Thirty-one-year-old Nathan Beasley is being held on a $15,000 bond on charges of driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license, reckless endangerment and manufacturing meth". What is more interesting is the reports that pretty much all meth is produced in Mexico now, but this case shows that not only are meth labs still in America - they are mobile. Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant and is produced in some of the worst locations often in neighborhoods where children are nearby. The chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine are very explosive and many severe injuries and deaths occur every year from explosions. Thinking about a meth lab at a gas station is unbelievable, to think what kind of catastrophe could have occurred if something went wrong.

The gas station was located 30 miles outside of Nashville, the attendant notified the Police Department because Beasley's car was sitting at the pump for almost an hour on New Year's Day. The police stated that the process of making meth was in progress. Due to the explosive nature of meth making ingredients, the Murfreesboro Assistant Fire Chief Allen Swader told The Daily News Journal that gas pumps were shut off as a precaution. Fortunately, everything went smoothly and nothing bad happened to anyone and that one more methamphetamine cook is going to be back in jail.

The United States has worked very hard to limit the availability of the chemicals needed to produce meth. Unfortunately, they are still many countries without the same restrictions that we have, allowing American drug chemists access to what they need. Major ingredients required for meth production are simple household medicines and chemicals, like Sudafed and Ether (starting fluid); the fact that these substances are easy to come across makes the drug hard to combat. It would be nice to think that meth labs are not all over the country, but, sadly that is not the case.

Dip In The Abuse Of Prescription Drugs

In the last decade prescription drug abuse has been on the rise, more people have become addicted to pills than any other substance. The flood of new drugs on the market in the way of sedatives, opiates, and stimulants is staggering. Fortunately, a federal drug survey found that less people abused prescription drugs last year than the year before that. This dip in the abuse of prescription drugs is being attributed to the education and information out there with respect to the dangers of pharmaceuticals. According to Eric Broderick, the acting administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, "People who once saw little risk in abusing prescription drugs are responding to health reports underscoring dangers of misuse".

It has also been reported that methamphetamine use also dropped in 2008 which is probably due to serious Meth education campaigns across the country, like the Montana Meth Project. The government has also made it very hard for Meth labs to operate in the states due to a crack down on the ease in which people can get ephedrine, the main ingredient in the cooking process. The Montana Meth Project reports that, "two years after launching the Meth Project in Montana, adult Meth use has declined by 72% and Meth-related crime has decreased 62%. Unfortunately, illicit drug use in the United States overall has not faltered and people still continue to take the risk. People used just as many drugs overall in 2007 as they did in 2008, "the drops in methamphetamine and prescription drug abuse were offset by increases among some age groups of marijuana and hallucinogen use, according to the survey of 67,500 people age 12 and older. Illegal drug use among people 50 to 59 increased from 2.7% in 2002 to 4.6% in 2008, a trend the report attributes to drug-using baby boomers who are getting older".

That survey concluded that 8% of the population, which equates to about 20.1 million Americans, used an illicit drug in the past month which was no different than 2007. Marijuana is still the number one abused drug in the United States due to it accessibility, being that it is heavily grown all over the U.S. It is also the drug that is considered to due the least amount of damage - which studies have proven that idea is not warranted. Many states are attempting to make Marijuana 100% legal and California is at the forefront of the campaign. It is great that the negative side-effects are being disclosed regarding prescription drugs, but we clearly still have an epidemic on our hands. The prescription drugs that adults consume trickles down to our children, people rarely lock their medicine cabinet which keeps the drugs within reach.

Mexican Crystal Meth is America's Problem

Methamphetamine production has crossed over borders and become industrialized with the advent of Super-Labs. With so much heat on the production of Meth in America as well as the ability to acquire mass amounts of Pseudoephedrine (the main ingredient in the manufacturing of the drug) being lessened, it is no surprise that other countries like Mexico have taken upon themselves to pick up where the U.S. manufacturers left off. Mexican Crystal Meth is America's problem considering U.S. citizens are Mexico's number one customer. "Mexico now has some massive and very sophisticated operations. We call them super labs," said the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Elizabeth Kempshall, special agent in charge of the Phoenix Division. Kempshall, whose jurisdiction is in Arizona, keeps a close watch on Meth production in Mexico due to her state being one of the major trafficking routes.

The Mexican Crystal Meth market has become a multi-billion dollar industry in what seems like over night. Drug production in Mexico looks a lot different from what we saw in America with trunk and trailer-park operations. Mexican cartels have honed their production skills and created labs that can produce unthinkable amounts of this 'death dealer'. In June police and military discovered the biggest laboratory yet in the municipality of Badiraguato, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. According to the Global Post, "It is estimated to have produced 40 metric tons of Meth, worth some $1.4 billion on American streets, in just two months before it was shut down — making it the largest operation of its kind to be exposed in the continent." Numbers like that can't help but make you feel that an epidemic is taking place given the fact that the majority of those 40 tons without a doubt crossed our border.

The DEA states that Meth is now the most popular hard drug in America’s Midwest and West, ahead of cocaine and heroin. Consumption and addiction rates will undoubtedly continue to rise as long as factories like the ones above continue to thrive. The bust in Badiraguato had to have been a major blow for the cartels, but, when you take out one weed another will pop up somewhere else with the same devastating ability. How can we keep the onslaught of Methamphetamine away? If Americans keep buying the drug, someone will always be there to make a profit. Personally, America's history of being able to curb the flow of traffic from other countries has been less than satisfactory; it seems unlikely that their tract record will change with regard to the most dangerous drug ever invented. If we can't keep Meth out of America then the least we can do is better educate people on the matter. I, like so many others, am at a loss in terms of the best solution; please let me hear your thoughts on this subject.