SPEED

Speed is the street name for Amphetamine. Like coke it's a stimulant that people take to keep them awake and alert. It's Britain's least pure illegal drug. It's often taken along with E.

ID: Amphetamine Sulphate, Phet, Billy, Whizz, Sulph, Base Amphetamine, Paste, Base Ice, Meth, Methamphetamine, Dexamphetamine, Dexies, Dexedrine, Yaba

Appearance and use

Amphetamines like speed are usually sold in wraps like cocaine. The powder is off-white or pinkish and can sometimes look like small crystals. Base speed is purer and is a pinkish-grey colour and feels like putty.

Crystal meth, or methamphetamine is processed speed that looks like off-white rocks or crystals.

Prescription amphetamines like dexamphetamine are usually small white pills.

Speed's either dabbed onto the gums or sniffed in lines like cocaine using a rolled up bank note. Sometimes it's rolled up in cigarette paper and swallowed. This is called a speedbomb. It can be mixed in drinks, or injected and methamphetamine can be smoked in its 'crystal' form.

The effects kick in after about half an hour if ingested but much quicker if injected or smoked (methamphetamine) and can last for up to six hours. But it all depends on the quality of the speed. The high is followed by a long slow comedown.

Cost

£8 - £12 per wrap

Purity

Speed isn't the purest drug on the block. Most of it only contains 5-10% amphetamine. It's cut with vitamin C, caffeine and scouring powder. Base speed is usually purer.

The effects

• Speed makes people feel wide awake, excited and chatty. Clubbers take it because it gives them the energy to dance for hours without getting knackered.
• Speed was once the main ingredient in diet pills because it stops people feeling hungry.

There is a flip side:

• It's impossible to sit still or sleep on speed
• The come down can make users feel irritable and depressed and can last for one or two days.
• Speed makes some people panicky. Sniff a lot in a short space of time and expect hallucinations.

Chances of getting hooked

You can get addicted to Speed. The more speed you take the greater chance you'll need to take more to get the same buzz.

The risks

• Speed users have died from overdose.
• Speed puts a strain on your heart. It's bad news for people with high blood pressure or a heart condition. An overdose can be fatal.
• Avoid taking speed and anti-depressants or alcohol. This combination has been known to be fatal.
• Taking a lot of speed can give your immune system a battering. You could get more colds, flu and sore throats if you use it a lot.
• Speed can lead to anxiety, depression, irritability and aggression as well as mental illness such as psychosis and paranoid feelings.
• Too much sniffing speed and you're sneezing lumps out of your nose into a hanky.
• Injecting any drug can cause vein damage, ulcers and gangrene. Dirty or shared needles and injecting works can help the spread of hepatitis and HIV. Injecting speed is particularly dangerous because it's cut with so much crap.
• It's easier to overdose injecting

The law

Speed is a Class B drug - illegal to have, give away or sell. Prepared for injection Speed becomes a Class A and can get you tougher sentencing if you're caught with it or selling it.

Possession can get you up to five years in jail and an unlimited fine. Supplying someone else with it can get you up to 14 years and an unlimited fine.

Fact: Passing drugs among friends is supplying in the eyes of the law.

Fact: A drug conviction could stand between you and your ideal job.