How Does a Parent's Methamphetamine Use Endanger Children?

Most people know that methamphetamine - also known as “meth,” “ice,” “speed,” “crank,” “Tina,” or “glass“ - is terrible for the health of the person who is using it. Most people also know instinctively, although they can’t articulate how, that parental meth use has an extremely negative impact on children. The purpose of this post is to talk about the many ways that a parent’s meth use impacts his or her children.

Drug-Seeking Behavior

Methamphetamine is highly addictive because it acts on the brain’s dopamine system. As a result, there are very few casual meth users. Most users live from one high to the next, and are always looking for their next fix. This can endanger children in several ways. First of all, it affects the parent’s focus on the child’s needs. Second, it potentially exposes the children to unsafe people (drug dealers and other adults on meth) and places (meth houses/labs, drug dealer’s neighborhoods).

The Initial “Rush”

Immediately after use, the user experiences an intense rush of pleasure and euphoria. This stage lasts up to 30 minutes. Users experience elevated blood pressure and heart rate, raising the risk of stroke, overheating, and other health events. The initial rush is all-consuming, and users may have difficulty focusing on things other than the sensations in their bodies.

In addition, the act of using methamphetamine often leaves toxic residue where children play: inside the carpet, on toys, on pacifiers and bottles, in blankets and mattresses and curtains.

The High After the Rush

During this phase, which lasts about 6-12 hours after a single dose, people under the influence can become aggressive and irritable, or overconfident and grandiose. In many ways, this stage resembles the mania that a person with bipolar disorder might experience. Users can develop an inflated sense of self-esteem, poor impulse control, high energy/sleeplessness, restlessness/psychomotor agitation, racing thoughts, and an increase in what psychologists call “goal-directed behavior.” Goal-directed behavior can include excessive planning of or participation in certain activities such as sex, work, political campaigning, shopping, gaming, and religious activities…as well as, of course, more drug use. Users may behave in bizarre, violent, and/or unexplainable ways, which can be distressing to those around them. All of these behaviors pose obvious risks of abuse and neglect to any children in the user’s care.

Binging and Tweaking

The high may be extended for a period of days or weeks by repeated binging on the drug. After 2-3 days without rest, the user will begin “tweaking.” Generally speaking, at this point in a meth binge, the user’s dopamine reserves are entirely exhausted and he or she is incapable of experiencing euphoria as he or she previously did. Still, use can continue during this period. People tend to become increasingly irritable, angry, anxious, paranoid, and confused at this point. Their movements are jerky or shaky, almost like a person with Parkinson’s. They may experience muscle twitching or a sense that there are insects crawling inside their skin, a phenomenon known as “formication” by the medical community (and as “meth mites” or “ice bugs” by users). Users may hallucinate, seeing, feeling, or hearing things that are not really occurring. Reactions to those imagined occurrences can be dangerous to those around the user. Long periods of sleep deprivation associated with tweaking are also unhelpful to the user’s state of mind. Many sources indicate that tweaking is the most dangerous stage of meth use.

The Comedown and Withdrawal

After a lengthy meth binge, the user experiences a crash. This can result in deep sleep for multiple days. The symptoms of a meth comedown resemble those of a person with depression or anxiety: sad/irritable mood, diminished interest in normally pleasurable activities, decreased appetite, fatigue/exhaustion, feelings of worthlessness, an increased risk of suicide, and inability to concentrate. The primary risks to children of parents in a meth comedown stem from neglect, rather than abuse. The parent is simply unable, in his or her diminished state, to drag him or herself out of bed or out of his or her “funk” to get the child’s daily needs taken care of. Parents who are exhausted and not hungry may forget to feed their children. Parents who lack energy may not be able to get their children to school on time. Children may not be timely bathed (or if very young, their diapers may not get changed regularly). Parents may not notice when their children are sick or may fail to take them to the doctor.

Loss of Employment

Meth addicts are alternately aggressive and hostile, paranoid and anxious, and exhausted or unconscious. This makes them terrible employees in most fields. When the addiction progresses to a point where the employer can no longer tolerate this behavior, the person’s employment may be terminated for cause. Parents who become unemployed aren’t financially able to care for their children, and they often end up in less safe living situations as a result: motels, shelters, rooming with unsafe people, etc. The problem is compounded for the meth addict, who may be unable to pass an employment drug screen and who spends what little money he or she does have on buying more meth. Meth addicts may turn to prostitution, to theft, or to manufacturing meth as a way to support the habit. These “occupations” obviously carry their dangers for children.

Manufacturing Meth

Manufacturing meth is a very dangerous process. It involves the mixing of several chemicals, many of which are dangerous on their own. Various hazardous gases are given off in the production process. These gases settle on household objects and into the furniture and flooring of a house, creating further hazards. If the chemicals are not mixed correctly, this can cause fire or an explosion. As one might expect, when paranoid, impulsive, irrational people are supervising such a volatile process, there is a high likelihood of injury.

Meth Kills

People who use methamphetamine heavily are at high risk of death from suicide and from cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke. In addition, due to effects on the immune system and euphoria that may cause them not to notice illness, they are at higher than average risk of infections and sepsis. This is only compounded by the open sores created by formication and the dry mouth that often leads to tooth decay in long-term users. There is very little more traumatic to a child than discovering the body of a deceased parent.

In Conclusion…

For all of the above reasons, it is unwise for an active user of methamphetamine to have custody of a minor child or children. Grandparents, friends, and other loved ones frequently have to step in and help the children, because the user does not recognize that there is a problem. I have observed many meth addicts over the years who simply cannot accept that their use endangers their children. They perceive my statements about addiction and danger as implying that they do not love their children. Although I really do believe the vast majority of parents (even those struggling with substance addiction) love their children, I also believe that the most loving act an addicted parent can perform is to become clean and sober. Until that time, though, others may want to step in and seek court intervention to safeguard the children.