Crystal in Iran: methamphetamine or heroin kerack

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Abstract

In recent years, methamphetamine use has dramatically increased in Iran while there is a crucial misunderstanding about the colloquial words related to methamphetamine among health providers, policy makers, clinicians, scholars and people in the community. The word Crystal refers to methamphetamine in some parts of Iran while in some other parts of the country, Crystal refers to a high purity street-level heroin which is called Kerack and its abuse is epidemic. Methamphetamine and heroin Kerack are different drugs in Iran. Methamphetamine is a stimulant drug while heroin Kerack is an opioid. Health providers especially clinicians and emergency medicine specialists should consider colloquial words that Iranian drug users apply. Special training courses should be designed and implemented for clinicians in Iran to inform them about methamphetamine and its frequently used colloquial words in the community. This issue has important clinical and health implications.

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Most cited references 19

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Neurocognitive effects of methamphetamine: a critical review and meta-analysis.

J Cobb Scott, Steven Paul Woods, Georg Matt … (2007)

This review provides a critical analysis of the central nervous system effects of acute and chronic methamphetamine (MA) use, which is linked to numerous adverse psychosocial, neuropsychiatric, and medical problems. A meta-analysis of the neuropsychological effects of MA abuse/dependence revealed broadly medium effect sizes, showing deficits in episodic memory, executive functions, information processing speed, motor skills, language, and visuoconstructional abilities. The neuropsychological deficits associated with MA abuse/dependence are interpreted with regard to their possible neural mechanisms, most notably MA-associated frontostriatal neurotoxicity. In addition, potential explanatory factors are considered, including demographics (e.g., gender), MA use characteristics (e.g., duration of abstinence), and the influence of common psychiatric (e.g., other substance-related disorders) and neuromedical (e.g., HIV infection) comorbidities. Finally, these findings are discussed with respect to their potential contribution to the clinical management of persons with MA abuse/dependence.

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Implications of chronic methamphetamine use: a literature review.

Charles W Meredith, Craig Jaffe, Kathleen Ang-Lee … (2015)

Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is increasing to epidemic proportions, both nationally and globally. Chronic MA use has been linked to significant impairments in different arenas of neuropsychological function. To better understand this issue, a computerized literature search (PubMed, 1964-2004) was used to collect research studies examining the neurobiological and neuropsychiatric consequences of chronic MA use. Availability of MA has markedly increased in the United States due to recent technological improvements in both mass production and clandestine synthesis, leading to significant public health, legal, and environmental problems. MA intoxication has been associated with significant psychiatric and medical comorbidity. Research in animal models and human subjects reveals complicated mechanisms of neurotoxicity by which chronic MA use affects catecholamine neurotransmission. This pathology may underlie the characteristic cognitive deficits that plague chronic MA users, who experience impairments in memory and learning, psychomotor speed, and information processing. These impairments have the potential to compromise, in turn, the ability of MA abusers to engage in, and benefit from, psychosocially based chemical-dependency treatment. Development of pharmacological interventions to improve these cognitive impairments in this population may significantly improve the degree to which they may be able to participate in treatment. Atypical antipsychotics may have some promise in this regard.

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A multi-site comparison of psychosocial approaches for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence.

Richard A Rawson, Patricia Marinelli-Casey, M. Anglin … (2004)

The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) Methamphetamine Treatment Project (MTP) is the largest randomized clinical trial of treatments for methamphetamine (MA) dependence to date. The objective of the study was to compare the Matrix Model, a manualized treatment method, with treatment-as-usual (TAU) in eight community out-patient settings in the Western United States. Over an 18-month period between 1999 and 2001, 978 treatment-seeking, MA-dependent people were randomly assigned to receive either TAU at each site or a manualized 16-week treatment (Matrix Model). The study was conducted as an eight-site out-patient trial, with six sites located in California and one each in Montana and Hawaii. In the overall sample, and in the majority of sites, those who were assigned to Matrix treatment attended more clinical sessions, stayed in treatment longer, provided more MA-free urine samples during the treatment period and had longer periods of MA abstinence than those assigned to receive TAU. Measures of drug use and functioning collected at treatment discharge and 6 months post-admission indicate significant improvement by participants in all sites and conditions when compared to baseline levels, but the superiority of the Matrix approach did not persist at these two timepoints. Study results demonstrate a significant initial step in documenting the efficacy of the Matrix approach. Although the superiority of the Matrix approach over TAU was not maintained at the post-treatment timepoints, the in-treatment benefit is an important demonstration of empirical support for this psychosocial treatment approach.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Daru

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Daru

Title: DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Print): 1560-8115

ISSN (Electronic): 2008-2231

Publication date Collection: 2013

Publication date (Electronic): 15 March 2013

Volume: 21

Issue: 1

Page: 22

Affiliations

[1 ]Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Article

Publisher ID: 2008-2231-21-22

DOI: 10.1186/2008-2231-21-22

PMC ID: 3602043

PubMed ID: 23497450

SO-VID: a2ae8424-74e4-4a4d-bd78-42dfecce461f

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Crystal in Iran: methamphetamine or heroin kerack

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Drug Repurposing Research Collection

Most cited references 19

Neurocognitive effects of methamphetamine: a critical review and meta-analysis.

Implications of chronic methamphetamine use: a literature review.

A multi-site comparison of psychosocial approaches for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence.

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