Flavored Crystal Meth Targets Kids.

Strawberry Quick

A new twist on Crystal Meth production includes adding Nestle Strawberry Quick. The Crystal Meth produced this way is being referred to as “Strawberry Quick” or “Strawberry Quik”. There are other flavors too including chocolate, cola and other sodas. And the DEA says that one agent reported a red methamphetamine that had been marketed as a powdered form of an energy drink. Reports of candy-flavored methamphetamine are emerging around the nation, stirring concern among police and abuse prevention experts that drug dealers are marketing the drug to younger people.

Drug traffickers are trying to lure in new customers, no matter what their age, by making the meth seem less dangerous when in fact it is just as poisonous and dangerous. Strawberry Quick looks like hard candy, bits and pieces of chunky red lollipop or pop-rocks. In reality, it’s highly-addictive methamphetamine. Strawberry Quick is popular among new users who snort it because the flavoring can cut down on the taste. Teenagers who have been taught meth is bad may see this flavored version as less harmful. ‘Strawberry Quick’ is designed for the younger crowd. Traffickers know that the word is out about what a horrible drug meth is. They are having a tough time selling this product, especially to young people. What do people in marketing do when they have a tough time selling a product? They have to come up with some sort of gimmick.

There is one bit of good news in all this: Methamphetamine use is down for much of the country for the second year running. Researchers say it appears this latest meth epidemic reached its peak in 2004 and 2005, and data from the federal government shows the number of first-time meth users has steadily declined in recent years. The number of people 12 and older who used methamphetamine for the first time in the previous year decreased from 318,000 people in 2004 to 192,000 people in 2005, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In 2006, there were an estimated 731,000 current users of methamphetamine aged 12 or older (0.3 percent of the population). Of the 259,000 people who used methamphetamine for the first time in 2006, the mean age at first use was 22.2 years, which is up considerably from the mean age of 18.6 in 2005. The use of meth in 12-17 year olds is still falling, but it seems that from 2005 to 2006, lifetime methamphetamine abuse increased among those 26 and older, particularly among those 26–34 years of age.

Our work is no where near done, but the stats are getting better. I believe that this trend is due to the fact that Drug and Law enforcement agencies took notice of how bad it was getting and in 2004 stepped up their efforts to combat Methamphetamine use and manufacturing.