Street terminology for amphetamine (whizz, base, phet, speed) and methamphetamine (crystal meth, crissy, ice, glass, shards) sometimes do not have a one-to-one correspondence to the actual chemicals they try to describe. Of course, colloquial terms have there place and a lot of users may not want to know about the exact chemical composition of a drug if one word will suffice, but this is what can lead to confusion.
For example, in the USA and Australia the term ‘speed’ can refer either to methamphetamine hydrochloride or amphetamine sulphate. In America ‘crank’ generally refers to impurer forms of powdered methamphetamine (bikers used to store their methamphetamine in the crank shaft of their bike). The term ‘ice’ is originally considered to apply to 4-methyl-aminorex, but is often used by Americans to refer to relatively pure forms of methamphetamine (Users have stated that 4-methyl-aminorex is closer to the effects of MDMA than it is to methamphetamine). ‘Base speed’ (freebase amphetamine) strictly speaking should be an oily liquid, but it’s not, it normally appears as white or yellowish putty.
There are many analogues of amphetamine and this is possibly why slang terms can confuse the issue with this particular synthetic drug. Forensic investigations into raided clandestine laboratories in the UK and USA have uncovered new (sometimes at the time legal) variations of amphetamine. Novel routes of manufacture and processing have also been uncovered. When precursor chemicals and chemicals for manufacture are monitored and controlled the ‘underground chemists’ or ‘cooks’ resort to other methods, chemicals, acids or gases.
There are also various ways of synthesising methamphetamine, and some of them produce a very pure product while others produce a crude one. A skilled chemist would purify the substance every step along the way. However, many clandestine ‘cooks’ usually use a crude two step process to make methamphetamine from ephedrine and not be concerned with purifying the substance any further.
The purer methamphetamine becomes the more it will turn into a crystal, hence the name crystal meth. Crystal meth can hit the street at 92% purity making it possibly one of the strongest stimulants on the illegal market. Contrary to popular belief, America and Austraila have only recently moved into ‘ice’ (crystal meth) production on a large scale. In the US most ‘crank’ tended to be in powder form and crystal meth was generally smoked in San Francisco.
In 2005 the so called ‘crystal meth epidemic’ did not materialise in the UK. News headlines used the term ‘crystal meth’ though most of what was being seized at the time was methamphetamine powder and not crystal. You might be thinking, what’s in a name anyway? It’s all the same drug, right? It is the same drug but crystal meth is mainly smoked whereas the powder is mainly snorted. Following on from this, if users were to develop problems they would probably have direct health consequences from the route of use. For instance, direct damage to lungs from smoking and damage to mucus membranes if snorting.
Understanding street terminolgy is important but it is essential to have an understanding of the drug itself and this is so relevant now. Today we are faced with so many ‘legal highs’ that it is hard to keep up. If we only have the drugs street name, brand name or molecular structure to go by, then we miss out on considerable amounts of information such as subjective experiences, affects on health and mental health, affects on the brain etc. It is very difficult to react effectively, as a drug practitioner, law enforcer, clinician, psychiatrist, family member or carer to a ‘new’ emerging drug if we do not fully understand the nature of the drug.
So names are important but they are only a starting point.
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