The long-term effects of methamphetamine on the human body are serious. Some of them are even grotesque. And they're proving to be a valuable tool for those working in drug prevention. Everyday Americans are turned into ghosts - one after
another. Their faces are ravaged by an all-consuming drug."My life and my work pretty much fell apart," says meth
addict Matthew Cooper. "They all took a back seat to the meth." Cooper used methamphetamine for 10 years until he was
convicted of burglary. Like most users, he watched his facial tissue sag over
time. His teeth also crumbled in a phenomenon known as "meth mouth." The changes were captured in mug shots that baffled
Oregon's Multnomah County Deputy Sheriff Bret King."There were a few cases where the changes that had taken
place due to the methamphetamine use were so extreme, that we didn't realize the
person was who they were," says King. That's why King helped create "Faces of Meth," a Web site featuring photos taken of meth
addicts on their first and subsequent arrests.
For doctors like Tom Barrett of the Howard Brown Health
Center, who treats a dozen meth patients a week, the pictures reveal meth's
punishing effects: Facial scarring, for instance, as users scratch at
the bugs they think are under their skin."I've never seen any addiction that's quite as hard to
treat as this," says Barrett. "I don't treat addictions solely, but I've worked
with patients that had addictions, and this one has just been horrendous to work
with." Worse are the long-term effects you don't see:
inflammation of the heart, stroke and paranoia.
"It kills brain cells, to make a long story short," says
Dr. Robert Derle of the University of California, Davis Medical School, "It
damages the vessels in the heart." The good news - if you can call it that - is that it may
never be too late to quit. A recent study suggests even after prolonged use of
meth, the brain can repair itself. But that's scant consolation to those, like Cooper,
who've fallen victim. "It may be a matter of months," says Cooper, "It may be a
matter of years. But it'll destroy your life."
Meth Mouth
Over the past few years, dentists in the United States have come across an increasing medical phenom-ena, which they have named "METH MOUTH". The first indication is small black spots of decay on the teeth usually along the gum line. The spots continue to grow and rot the teeth causing them to become brittle and shatter to the touch. This is either caused by smoking or snorting meth (prolonged use).
