Methamphetamine use has declined over the past couple of years, but it's still a big problem in America. The 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that more than 350,000 people used the drug regularly. The Drug Enforcement Agency arrested nearly 31,000 people, reporting 10,000 meth lab incidents that year. It's a nasty drug that tends to leave behind a trail of withered bodies and charred buildings.
Breaking Bad gives people who don't use meth a glimpse into the lifestyle surrounding it, but like any TV show, it can only say so much, with only so much accuracy. Redditor HeisenbergSpecial says he was the real deal. A polymer chemist who, not unlike Walt White, used his training to cook meth. He was arrested when police found a mysterious white powdery substance in his car.
The cops used their car-borne find to convict the unidentified cook of interstate trafficking. Now he's trying to pick up the pieces of his life without the benefit of a non-convict's rights. He shared his story on reddit, giving people a real life account of what it's like to make and use meth, and how crappy your life becomes when you get caught. He's out of jail, but life for a convict has proven to be a challenge.
Scroll through the gallery to find out more about the secret life of a meth cook.
Photo credit: Associated Press
So, let's see. I have an educational background in polymer chemistry, and have been diagnosed with both ADHD and bipolar disorder. I discovered that the combination of indica-strain marijuana and low-dose methamphetamine allowed me to virtually eliminate all symptoms of both disorders, and become a very successful medical researcher. But because methamphetamine is so hard to obtain where I live, I used my chemistry background to make the stuff.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press
On Breaking Bad
Really, they just don't show anywhere near enough of the actual process [on Breaking Bad] for anyone to understand how it works. It'd be like trying to design a rocket to go to the moon by watching Apollo 13.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press
Much like Lewis Carroll's Alice, the meth guru redditor experienced drink-me-to-shrink, eat-me-to-grow mood and motivation swings.
It gives you an incredibly intense focus, which can be used for cleaning or really anything. With me, I'd focus more on work, which sometimes resulted in me spending months trying to complete nearly-impossible projects and just absolutely being unwilling to ever give up. This type of focus can be good or bad depending on your line of work. With me, it was kind of a double-edged sword. I also had to make use of weed, to allow me to step back and look at what I was doing from a broader perspective.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press
Meth experts know a lot of chemical gibberish that the lay person, or maybe even a lot of chemists, might never understand. I suppose it's similar to how hunters know more about animal behavior than biologists do.
Depolymerize the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polymer, and separate the monomers via distillation. The styrene can be converted into phenylacetic acid and from there phenylacetone via a reaction that uses sulfur. Another depolymerization product, acetonitrile, can be reacted with benzomagnesium chloride to form a chemical that hydrolyzes into phenylacetone. And of course, phenylacetone can be reductively aminated with methylamine to form racemic methamphetamine.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press
Although he says meth made him more focused and brought him out of his bipolar depression, he suffered side effects, too. Such as his zombie-like sleep schedule.
Eventually I settled into a pattern of sleeping every other night, usually going to a party friday night and drinking, then not using saturday and sunday, when I'd be sleepy and more lethargic, and I'd only use weed if I used anything.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press
Our unidentified former meth peddler defends his use of the drug as something that helped his bipolar disorder and ADHD before he was arrested and subjected to regular substance testing.
I plan to try to go back to work in the same field, although I know I'll never match the performance levels I used to have, especially with my bipolar disorder making me so unreliable as an employee. Once I can travel internationally again, in a few years, I'd like to move to a country like Thailand or India, where drug users are an incredibly low priority for police. This is if my life is still in the shitter after that time. I do plan to research drugs like 4-methylaminorex which are supposedly not as dangerous as meth, though still illegal in the US.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press
Unfortunately, the small amount of meth he said he was making made no difference to the authorities. He can't vote, he can't own a gun, he can't even get a friggin' library card.
I was arrested. My name was in the papers. They made it look like I was making massive amounts of meth and selling it, when in reality, I'd only ever made around 5 grams at a time.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press
I tried to use drugs responsibly, but I really should have told people I was close to about my use, so they could have given me feedback. But I didn't, because I thought they would make me quit, and I sure as hell didn't want to go back to the life I had before I started using drugs. But ultimately I had to do that anyway. Towards the end, my drug use was starting to become less responsible. I was getting obsessed with projects that didn't really matter, (think Walter White fixing the rot in his house) and lashing out at anybody that tried to get between me and said projects.
Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment…
Photo credit: Associated Press
One person asked HeisenbergSpecial if he'd ever use again.
Hell no. If I ever start using again, I plan to directly fund the Mexican cartels like a good American should.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press
Fortunately, according to redditor DiggityDave, there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
I feel compelled to share my own story with you, in hopes that it'll inspire you a bit to never give up. As a former convicted felon that's spent the last decade of his life overcoming the heartbreak, bullshit, and frustration associated with overcoming a criminal record, I'm very sorry for your troubles. I will say that while nothing is guaranteed, with enough persistence, money, and luck, you may one day be able to get your record cleared.
Source: reddit
Photo credit: Associated Press