I've been studying people's subjective responses to this shit that's currently being sold as meth in most of America. It's low-quality, with different effects as methamphetamine so it's often assumed to be pure n-iso. Here's the thing.
It's *not* pure n-iso! Real crystal meth has one component:
Dextromethamphetamine hydrochloride (90%+)
The shit on the streets currently seen has *three* components:
Dextromethamphetamine hydrochloride (25%)
Levomethamphetamine hydrochloride (25%)
n-isopropylbenzylamine hydrochloride (50%)
Both n-iso and levo-meth have unpleasant effects. Levo-meth's effects are typical of norephedrine-releasing stimulants: clenched jaw, hypertension, ears ringing, sweating, etc. Unpleasant, but manageable. More info about levo can be found in the post I made a while ago…
N-iso isn't a stimulant, but the effects of levo-meth are sometimes assumed to be from n-iso. N-iso's effects are more insidious, and take about a day and a half to kick in. Lethargy, listlessness, inability to focus, horrible brain fog, depression, procrastination, sense of uneasiness and fear, feeling like you're unable to leave your room for days on end. That sort of shit.
This is why some people who just take it for one day often feel okay afterwards. N-iso didn't have the chance to build up in their system.
If it does build up in your system, then you're basically a useless husk of a human being until you allow your body to remove that poison from your system. That might take some time, and it won't be pleasant at all, but nothing can be gained by continuing to put more poison into yourself.
There's this organized disinformation campaign, that's been trying to discredit anyone discussing how highly-cut meth is. Typical things you hear from this campaign, and why they're misleading:
**N-iso isn't a stimulant**
No shit, that's why it's mixed with racemic methamphetamine, which *is* a stimulant.
**It tests as meth with a marquise test**
Yeah, both levo and dextro meth test positive with a marquise test, and this concoction contains plenty of both. N-iso does not react to the marquise test.
**It forms crystals, so it's pure**
These are weak, hydrated crystals that incorporate both water and both enantiomers of methamphetamine into their structure. Notice how they always seem damp when you crush them? That's because water has to be incorporated into these otherwise-weak crystal structures in order to stabilize them. Real meth, on the other hand, does not form hydrates.
**People who make meth are idiots, and could never figure this shit out**
We are a lot smarter when comes to chemistry than most, and learn by trial and error. Most of chemist are pretty bright, but were born into shitty situations, and learned chemistry as a way out of poverty. Also, we pass down our techniques, which aren't hard to learn if you have someone who knows their shit instructing you. Think Walt and Jesse.
**This is all just crazy tweaker talk!**
Yeah, it's really easy and lazy to assume all meth users are paranoid and prone to conspiracies. So far it's been *really* effective as a means of discrediting anyone who discusses it. But the evidence indicates that the tweakers are right this time. I'll get to that later.
**Meth is a poison that's destroying your brain, and those effects you're noticing are symptoms of that**
This one is really common to hear, but it's not entirely true. It's possible to use real methamphetamine responsibly (hell, it can be prescribed in the US, under the name "Desoxyn"), but this shit that's being sold as meth now is a whole different animal. So people who have been using methamphetamine responsibly for years are suddenly getting really fucked up, and are having a hard time explaining it. This tends to work psychologically, because meth users often feel guilty about their use, and assume that if they're experiencing problems, it's their own fault.
**All tests we know of PROVE it's methamphetamine!**
Yes, because it contains racemic methamphetamine, so will test positive for that. However, there is one test that this concoction can't fool: the melting point test.
Get a stainless steel digital thermometer from Harbor Freight or Autozone or whatever. They're like $5. Make sure they can measure past 200°C. Then put a bunch of your shit in a vial, using a double-boiler type setup, with some kind of oil in the outer container. Vegetable oil, mineral oil, motor oil, baby oil, whatever. Anyway, heat the oil, which will then heat the vial, and its contents will melt. Insert the thermometer, and make sure the vial contents are completely melted. Then remove the outer vessel (with hot oil in it) from the heat.
Everything will cool down very gradually. Watch the thermometer, and watch for crystals forming in the inner vial. As soon as a crystal forms, take note of the temperature. More and more crystals will form. If you have real meth, the temperature will hold during this process, at somewhere between 170°C and 175°C. The temperature will barely change during the crystallization. It might fall 1-2°C, due to minor impurities, but the less it changes temperature, the purer you can expect it to be.
But since that's not something that anyone has these days, you can probably expect crystals to start forming at maybe 160°C, and for the temperature to drop maybe 10°C before it's all solid. This proves that you have a mixture on your hands, not a pure substance. This is the best way to test this shit by far, since there's absolutely no room for interpretation.
The ghetto version of this is "crackback", where users watch how the molten salt solidifies. If it solidifies in a wave, starting from one or two points and radiating outward, that indicates purity. If it forms slushy crystals around the edges first, and leaves a liquid pool in the center that emits vapors as it solidifies, then that means you have a mixture, and not a pure substance.
**This "crackback" nonsense is like reading tea leaves**
People assume that "crackback" means looking at the patterns in the solidified substance. That's wrong. Actual "crackback" means observing how the molten salt transitions from liquid to solid as it cools. You have to watch it in real time. While it may not be scientific, per se, it's actually a pretty useful observation.
There are plenty of other observations that are useful for identifying it. This n-iso concoction crystallizes in plates, whereas real d-meth crystallizes in shards. So when crystals crack, they often have plate-like surfaces visible. This makes it pretty easy to recognize once you have some experience.
**If this were a mixture, you could separate the components by recrystallization**
Yeah, if the meth was d-meth. But since you have both isomers, that greatly impairs their ability to form crystals, so instead it gets incorporated into the n-iso crystals. Levo meth can form crystals with other levo meth, and dextro meth forms crystals with itself too. Think of them like those zigzag shape pieces in Tetris. One is a mirror image of the other, and if you got just one or the other, you could stack them easily. But if you have both coming at you, it's a lot harder to stack them in nice solid shapes. That's why it gets incorporated into n-iso crystals instead.
**But meth chemists couldn't have figured all this out! They don't know a damn thing about crystal lattices!**
We learn by trial and error, mostly. And even no chemist could do it, as all it takes is try combining n-iso with racemic meth, and letting it crystallize.
**You don't know anything about chemistry and used the wrong word somewhere, therefore this invalidates everything else you've said**
I'm sorry you feel that way. I cooked more shit than you can ever imagine.
**What do you mean, "organized"? Coming up with conspiracy theories like that is a sign you need to lay off the pipe.**
Yes, meth users are known for being paranoid and coming up with crazy conspiracy theories, but they don't tend to all point in the same direction, and start at the same time. This shit began in full force at some point in early 2017, and has remained consistent ever since. Thousands of anecdotes scattered all over the internet, all describing the same symptoms starting at roughly the same time.
It's not crazy talk. It's real. And we need to start treating this problem with the appropriate level of seriousness, unless we want to keep funding these cartels that are poisoning people.
I've tried to provide the best harm-reduction information I possibly can, but there's so much misinformation out there that it can be hard to sort truth from nonsense. So it's *really* important that we take on this misinformation that keeps being spread about what's going on. They think you're stupid enough to believe their bullshit. Prove them wrong
