Meth is making a comeback in WA, DEA warns, and its more potent and dangerous than ever

Ice. Crystal. Glass. Speed. No matter the name, methamphetamine is making a comeback across the U.S. and western Washington, the DEA reported, and experts warn that today’s meth is more potent and more dangerous than ever.

Methamphetamine is a potent stimulant in the same class of drugs as cocaine, but it’s far stronger, with effects that can last for hours. It can come in pill, powder, or paste form and may be smoked, snorted, swallowed, or injected.

Belonging to the amphetamine family, which includes prescription ADHD medications like Adderall and Vyvanse, meth overstimulates the central nervous system. It floods the brain with feel-good chemicals like dopamine, producing intense euphoria and a powerful urge to keep using.

Three recent meth-related incidents

Meth appears to have played a role in the recent arrests of three suspects accused of stealing vehicles. In one case, a man was arrested on suspicion of throwing a Washington State Patrol (WSP) lieutenant on the pavement of I-5 in Seattle, Christmas morning, jumping in her cruiser, and speeding away with lights flashing.

According to a police report, the suspect told troopers he smoked meth before that incident, which was captured on video.

Beau Stone told KIRO 7 he recorded the incident, which started with the suspect pacing across the interstate and stopping traffic, before the trooper pulled up and sold it to TMZ.

“I thought, ‘Oh, he’s going to get shot,'” Stone said. “That’s how it usually ends. You’re going to end up dead, you know, he’s lucky he ain’t.”

On Sunday, a Thurston County deputy recovered two stolen vehicles in a single shift — both, investigators say, were linked to meth. The first involved a stolen scooter, and the second involved a stolen truck later that night. Deputies said they found meth on both suspects.

The resurgence

While meth has been around for more than a century with chemists synthesizing ephedrine, a compound found in the ephedra plant, it has changed significantly and become far more potent, The New York Times reported.

By the 1990s, meth became a popular club drug, with home “cooks” producing it from pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in common cold medicines.

In 2005, Congress passed the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, moving pseudoephedrine-containing medications behind the counter. Meth production declined, even as the nation’s opioid crisis was gaining momentum.

More recently, as reported by The Atlantic, chemists discovered a meth formula that sidestepped pseudoephedrine. It’s a formula that’s been used by Mexican drug cartels to mass-produce meth and distribute it throughout the Southwest and along the West Coast.

In their 2024 annual report on national drug threats, the DEA said those cartels have been exploiting the American demand for counterfeit pills by producing meth in tablets that mimic ADHD medications.

“Together, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have caused the worst drug crisis in U.S. history,” the DEA report read. “They dictate the flow of nearly all illicit drugs into the United States, and their dominance over the synthetic drug trade in particular is evident in the relentless stream of illicit fentanyl and methamphetamine crossing the border toward U.S. markets. The ease and low cost of producing these drugs on a large scale in Mexico make them highly profitable.”

How does meth get into the country?

According to The New York Times, traffickers hide meth in numerous ways. Law enforcement officers have seized shipments of meth in bottles of mineral water, in a tractor-trailer that listed its cargo as “tomatillos,” stuffed in rolls of toilet paper, disguised as watermelons, and mailed inside bags of Cheetos.

“Drug sales are enabled by encrypted and open messaging applications and social media, used by cartel members and street dealers alike to advertise, arrange delivery, and get paid quickly, all on a single device, and with minimal exposure,” the DEA explained in their report. “Combined, these factors make detection harder and fuel drug poisonings in the United States at the hands of the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels.”

Negative side effects

The effects vary depending on a person’s tolerance and how the drug is used.

After the initial rush fades, many users binge for extended periods, often forgetting to drink water and unable to sleep or eat for days, The New York Times reported. During this phase, known as “tweaking,” users can become intensely focused on repetitive or pointless tasks, like taking apart objects or collecting small items, while growing increasingly agitated or aggressive.

Some users compulsively scratch or pick at their skin, believing they are infested with “meth bugs,” which can leave scars and open sores.

Long-term use can lead to serious health problems, including memory loss and cognitive decline, severe depression, heart damage, and advanced gum disease and tooth decay — commonly called “meth mouth.”

Modern meth

Today’s meth is far different from the meth found in nightclubs in the ’90s or the crystals cooked up in the popular television show “Breaking Bad.” In many instances, dealers often include meth in a cocktail of other drugs and opioids. One popular club drug, called pink cocaine, according to law enforcement officials, combines meth, ketamine, MDMA, benzodiazepines, crack, and caffeine.

As cartels keep revising lab formulas to make their product more addictive and potent, often using hazardous chemicals obtained by cartels from China, according to the DEA. Many experts on addiction think that today’s meth is more dangerous than older versions. Experts told The Atlantic, just one hit of modern versions of meth can lead to psychosis — a condition that affects the mind, where there has been some loss of contact with reality, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31% of the drug-related deaths in the U.S. are caused mostly by methamphetamine.

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