Part 1:

P2P Meth vs. Meth Made With Ephedrine

*For the sake of preserving this post, I will avoid being so blatant about providing free copies to most of the research specifically referenced within this article. However, I will link their DOI references, which sometimes links to a whole article or sometimes just an abstract with the rest behind a paywall. Remember that https://sci-hub.se/ is a fantastic resource for accessing such articles.

**There will be some information within that probably breaks some of the rules, but for the sake of educating for the purposes of harm reduction, as well as my hypocritical nature and sense of entitlement, I will allow myself this one exception and not ban myself. Though I should be careful, because I am on thin ice ((figuratively.) And also slightly less figuratively but still figuratively(?) if you picked up on the double entendre) and next time I may not be so merciful. So readers who don't have special mod immunity; do not take this as a justification to break the rules yourself. Because I came here to ban with impunity and masturbate to disabled interracial midget porn, and I've unsurprisingly exhausted the genre in it's entirety since discovering it early this morning.

Introduction

Racemic meth? N-iso? Fentanyl? What is modern meth truly made of? Will N-iso destroy me from the inside out? Will I die of a fentanyl overdose if I smoke meth? Will my wife divorce me if she finds me in a seedy motel in women's lingerie and a duffel bag full of dildos after another meth-fueled masturbatory marathon again? Are these concerns real? Tweaker paranoia?

For a long time now, there has been many of various contradictory claims pertaining to the makeup of modern meth, all of them contributing to an increasing sense of uncertainty. Or worse; certainty about incorrect things, the leading cause of misinformation. I'd like to lay all of the facts out there and see if once and for all, we finally separate fact from fiction.

P2P Meth vs. Meth made with Ephedrine

As some of you may know, 2 of the most common ways that meth has been produced in recent history is with either with phenyl-2-propanone (otherwise known as p2p), or with ephedrine/pseudoephedrine. The basic understanding is that because of the international precursor restrictions placed by government agencies, most of the methamphetamine production shifted from being made within the U.S. inside clandestine labs using ephedrine/pseudoephedrine, to being made by cartel-ran super labs using P2P in Mexico. P2P, said to produce an inferior, racemic product (50/50 mixture of both levo- and dextro- isomers); has been blamed for the supposed massive decline in quality from experienced users. (For some basic info on isomers, check out wikipedia's page on isomers).

I have here an article from The Atlantic, which has been adapted from a book by Sam Quinones, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, that explores the perceived impact of P2P meth on modern America and those who use the substance. For extra reading, here is a transcribed interview from Oregon Public Broadcasting with the same author: The formulation of meth has changed. It may be contributing to this country’s mental health crisis.

I also have here a study titled Prolonged Psychosis with Reformulated Methamphetamine, which frustratingly provides no abstract and is unfortunately pay-walled, but at the very least does seem to imply a difference of effects on these two variants of meth. Another research article on Mexico's precursor chemical controls: Emergence of less potent types of methamphetamine in the United States. As you can see, all research and accounts seems to suggest that P2P-produced meth is indeed inferior in potency and quality, with an increase in adverse effects; and it's prevalence has seemingly replaced ephedrine-produced meth almost entirely.

However, I have data released from the DEA (note that this article was very hard to find online, and so the link I am about to provide links directly to a filehosting site which you have to download the PDF to view) here, that suggests that while modern meth is largely produced via the p2p method, purity and potency is at an all time high due to the stereoenrichment of the product to isolate the desired dextro-methamphetamine isomer from the unsought levo-methamphetamine isomer.

So what gives? Is the product pure or not? Fuck, we did not get any closer to resolving this question. Ok, fuck. Maybe we should look into cuts or something.

Part 2: N-Isopropylbenzylamine (and related compounds methylbenzylamine and ethylbenzylamine), dimethylsulfone, and Other Hard to Pronounce Cuts That Are Said to be in Meth

And

Part 3: Fentanyl Frenzy: Fears Formed by Forensic Facts or Fallacious Fiction?

Coming soon!

Further Reading:

Forensic analysis of P2P derived amphetamine synthesis impurities: identification and characterization of indene by-products

Characterization of Route Specific Impurities Found in Methamphetamine Synthesized by the Leuckart and Reductive Amination Methods

Simultaneous detection and quantitation of organic impurities in methamphetamine by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, a complementary technique for methamphetamine profiling