Ice (Methamphetamines)

Ice is a stimulant which means it makes you feel really energetic and up. It comes as shards of crystal, often with different colours through it, and can be smoked, swallowed, snorted, injected or inserted anally (known as ‘shafting’ or ‘shelving’). It can also be heated on aluminum foil to inhale the vapors. Using Ice can give feelings of exhilaration and alertness as well as agitation and paranoia. The intense high lasts four to twelve hours and is often followed by a pretty severe comedown.

OTHER NAMES:

Meth, crystal, crystal meth, rock, Crack, shabu, tina, glass, crank, yaba, or shard, crystal methamphetamine.

FACTS TO KNOW:

• Ice can be smoked, swallowed, snorted, injected or inserted anally (known as ‘shafting’ or ‘shelving’) It can also be heated on aluminum foil to inhale the vapors.
• Using Ice can give feelings of exhilaration and alertness as well as agitation and paranoia.
• Ice causes a big release of dopamine which is a chemical in your brain that gives feelings of motivation, pleasure and satisfaction.
• It can take 2- 10 days to replace these dopamine stores and this is what causes a “comedown”.
• When coming down you might feel irritable, exhausted and need to sleep a lot, experience low mood and you may find it difficult to concentrate.

DURATION

• You will feel the effects from 0-10 minutes.
• The effects will peak from 2-4 hours.
• Ice stays in your body for 12 hours.
• After the effects wear off you might experience quite a severe comedown.

If you use ice, make sure you know these ways to be as safe as possible.

STAYING AS SAFE AS YOU CAN:

• Take breaks from using
• Try and maintain a healthy diet and get plenty of rest when not using
• If injecting use safe injecting practices
• Drink water
• Plan for the comedown
• Have ‘safe’ people to call in case of feelings of paranoia or panic
• If you’ve had too much ice (overdose), you might feel pretty panicky, have difficulty breathing, or have a very high body temperature. – You may even experience methamphetamine psychosis.
• Call an ambulance if an overdose is suspected

OVERDOSE:

If you’ve had too much Ice, you might feel pretty panicky, have difficulty breathing, or have a very high body temperature. You may even experience methamphetamine psychosis. An ambulance should be called if anything like this happens.

Want more information on ICE, amphetamines or methamphetamines check out Harm Reduction Victoria and the Alcohol and drug Foundation fact sheets

This is only a little bit of information check out Harm Reduction Victoria’s fact sheet. 

Or there’s this article from ADF in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service providers that has more information about ice