The Road to Ruin - Meth High

The Road to Ruin - Meth High is the continuation of a series chronicling my true life experiences with drugs, crime, prison and life-changing conversion.

Read it from the beginning here: The Road to Ruin - Adolescent Criminal

Crank Capitol

At the age of 15, I was experimenting with methamphetamine. It was an epidemic in the city where I lived: Antioch, CA. At times, it seemed like just about every third person that lived there used a bike as their main method of transportation, looked emaciated, unkempt and like they hadn’t slept for days. I had a friend who’s mom was really strung out. There was a time when she snorted a huge rail of crank (meth) and got so amped that she took off out the front door barefoot and in her pajamas — for a week! At one period, she dated a meth manufacturer. They got pulled over in some old truck with a camper which contained a meth lab! He ended up getting 15 years in prison behind that.

Meth use in Antioch became so rampid that people were calling it the crank capitol of California. Every once in a while, a house would blow up from a botched attempt to cook dope. I once met a guy who was the sad victim of his desperate addiction in a failed attempt to cook a batch in someone’s bathtub. His face and upper chest were seriously scarred and in the process of healing. His face also had abnormal hues of blue and pink. I could tell that he would never look the same again.

While he was playing chemist with the hazardous chemicals used to cook dope, he lit up a cigarette and then—boom! The next thing he knew, he was engulfed in flames. He was rushed to the hospital by his friends. He told the doctor that his car radiator blew up in his face. The doctor bought his story. Lucky for him, because he could have gotten some serious prison time for that.

Stories of individuals like that are all too common. The average person might think, what in the world were they thinking? However, in their defense, they aren't thinking. That’s what meth does to people. It messes them up so badly that they cannot even think straight. Trust me on this.

Substitute Tweaker

I only experimented with meth for a short time in my mid-teens. I tried it for maybe a couple of months and then I stopped using it. Although, I would still do some here and there. However, when I was between the ages of 22 and 23, before getting locked up, I started using it again habitually. Part of the reason is because I was selling it and had such easy access to it. Another reason is because, prior to that, I was a heavy cocaine user and I had lost my cocaine connection. In other words, it replaced my cocaine habit.

Methamphetamine is a really twisted drug. It seriously brings out the worst in people. Your best friend would stab you in the back for a sack of dope if he got tweaked out. There is a lot of lying and stealing between meth addicts. I think one of the reasons that is, is because meth exaggerates paranoia.

When you use meth, you can hardly eat (unless you get used to it). I would eat like once a day. I was really skinny, too. You can’t sleep for days. I would be up for about three days straight until my body just could not take it anymore; then I would crash for a whole day; although, I’ve heard of people being up for weeks! As a result, your mind plays tricks on you. You hear voices, see shadows and think people are out to get you. I experienced all of that.

Meth is also really addicting. The worst part of the addiction for me was the come down. That is, when the high starts wearing off. You go through a terrible withdrawal and need some more dope just to level you out. I would liken it to a diabetic going into shock and needing a quick dose of something sugary to recover. That is how people get caught up in the vicious cycle of meth addiction.

Meth is a highly addictive drug which completely ruins the lives of most of its users. It totally changes people to bring out the worst in them. My own personal experiences with meth were not pleasant ones. When I started using it, it was for the thrill of it. Also, some of my friends were using it and I wanted to fit in with them. After experimenting with meth in my mid-teens, I experimented with hallucinogens: acid and mushrooms. I did some ecstasy as well. You can read about that in my next hub.

The Road to Ruin - Tripping on LSD, Shrooms and Ecstasy