You can mark you interesting snippets of text that will be available through a unique link in your browser.


methamphetamine

Translation
methamphetamine
/meth'am fet"euh meen', -min/, n. Pharm.
a central nervous system stimulant, C10H15N, used clinically in the treatment of narcolepsy, hyperkinesia, and for blood pressure maintenance in hypotensive states: also widely used as an illicit drug.
[1945-50; METH- + AMPHETAMINE]

* * *

▪ drug
also called  d-desoxyephedrine , byname  Speed 
 potent and addictive synthetic stimulant drug that affects the central nervous system (nervous system, human) (the spinal cord and brain). It was used widely for legal medical purposes throughout much of the 20th century. In the United States it was marketed under the brand names Methedrine and Desoxyn, and it was widely administered to industrial workers in Japan in the 1940s and '50s to increase their productivity.

      Methamphetamine, which increases physical activity and suppresses the appetite, is of limited usefulness in the treatment of attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy, and obesity. However, heavy or prolonged use (drug abuse) may produce powerful side effects, including aggression and paranoia, kidney and lung disorders, brain and liver damage, chronic depression, immune deficiency disorders, convulsions, and schizophrenia. It is normally taken in pill form or, as a crystalline powder (“crystal meth”), sniffed through a hollow tube; it may also be taken intravenously.

      Methamphetamine was viewed with deep suspicion and hostility in the United States by the 1960s, not only by law-enforcement officials, politicians, the media, and medical professionals but also by large sections of the drug subculture. After the Controlled Substances Act (1970) severely restricted its availability, a large illicit manufacturing industry, relying on hundreds of clandestine “meth labs,” arose in the Southwest and West and spread to parts of the Midwest in the 1990s. Despite periodic police crackdowns, large quantities of the drug continue to be produced in these labs.

      Methamphetamine use has been particularly widespread in Pacific Rim nations, where it has become a serious social problem. Partly because of its association with energy and aggression, its growing use was often correlated with rapid modernization and industrialization. Although reliable figures were very hard to find, some studies suggested that a substantial increase in usage did not occur in the 1990s. Nevertheless, in the United States a survey in the mid-1990s claimed that nearly five million people had tried methamphetamine, representing an increase of approximately 240 percent from 1990.

John Philip Jenkins
 

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

  
Share  

Look at other dictionaries:

  • methamphetamine — methedrine мед. метамфетамин, метедрин (используется при лечении ожирения, а также как незаконный стимулянт) …   Англо-русский универсальный дополнительный практический переводческий словарь И. Мостицкого

  • Methamphetamine — Meth and Tik redirect here. For other uses, see Meth (disambiguation) and Tik (disambiguation). This article is about the psychostimulant drug, methamphetamine, in both racemic and dextrorotatory forms. For the CNS inactive OTC nasal decongestant …   Wikipedia

  • Methamphetamine — Strukturformel Allgemeines Freiname …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Methamphetamine — Méthamphétamine Pour les articles homonymes, voir ICE. Méthamphétamine …   Wikipédia en Français

  • methamphetamine — noun Date: 1949 an amine C10H15N used medically in the form of its crystalline hydrochloride especially in the treatment of obesity and often used illicitly as a stimulant called also methedrine compare ice 7 …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Methamphetamine — …   Википедия

  • methamphetamine — noun A highly addictive phenethylamine stimulant drug, similar to cocaine. Its systematic (UIPAC) name is (S) N methyl 1 phenylpropan 2 amine. Syn: ice, crystal, crystal meth, glass, meth …   Wiktionary

  • Methamphetamine — Наркотики: метиловый амфетамин …   Универсальный англо-русский словарь

  • methamphetamine — Наркотики: метиловый амфетамин …   Универсальный англо-русский словарь

  • methamphetamine — мед.сущ. метамфетамин …   Англо-русский медицинский словарь