Lineberry Timothy W, Bostwick J Michael
Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Mayo Clin Proc. 2006 Jan;81(1):77-84. doi: 10.4065/81.1.77.
Previously restricted primarily to Hawaii and California, methamphetamine abuse has reached epidemic proportions throughout the United States during the past decade, specifically in rural and semirural areas. Particular characteristics of methamphetamine production and use create conditions for a "perfect storm" of medical and social complications. Unlike imported recreational drugs such as heroin and cocaine, methamphetamine can be manufactured locally from commonly available household ingredients according to simple recipes readily available on the Internet. Methamphetamine users and producers are frequently one and the same, resulting in both physical and environmental consequences. Users experience emergent, acute, subacute, and chronic injuries to neurologic, cardiac, pulmonary, dental, and other systems. Producers can sustain life-threatening injuries in the frequent fires and explosions that result when volatile chemicals are combined. Partners and children of producers, as well as unsuspecting first responders to a crisis, are exposed to toxic by-products of methamphetamine manufacture that contaminate the places that serve simultaneously as "lab" and home. From the vantage point of a local emergency department, this article reviews the range of medical and social consequences that radiate from a single hypothetical methamphetamine-associated incident.
甲基苯丙胺滥用以前主要局限于夏威夷和加利福尼亚州，但在过去十年中，这种滥用在美国各地已达到流行程度，特别是在农村和半农村地区。甲基苯丙胺生产和使用的特殊特征为医疗和社会并发症的“完美风暴”创造了条件。与海洛因和可卡因等进口娱乐性药物不同，甲基苯丙胺可以根据互联网上随时可得的简单配方，用常见的家用成分在当地制造。甲基苯丙胺使用者和生产者往往是同一批人，这会导致身体和环境两方面的后果。使用者会出现神经系统、心脏、肺部、牙齿及其他系统的急性、亚急性和慢性损伤。生产者在挥发性化学物质混合时引发的频繁火灾和爆炸中可能会遭受危及生命的伤害。生产者的伴侣和孩子，以及毫无戒心的危机现场急救人员，会接触到甲基苯丙胺制造过程中产生的有毒副产品，这些副产品会污染同时作为“实验室”和住所的地方。从当地急诊科的角度出发，本文回顾了一起假设的与甲基苯丙胺相关事件所引发的一系列医疗和社会后果。
