Isolation and extreme meth use
Robert started using meth in 2004 by accident.
After meeting a man on Craigslist, he snorted a line of powder that he thought was cocaine. It turned out to be methamphetamine.
With little knowledge available about meth at the time and few resources available, Robert, who asked that NBC News conceal his last name to protect his privacy, became an “on and off” user, which he defines as five to six times per year.
Eventually, Robert found that his meth use was affecting his everyday life. He was arrested for possession after trying to wait out his high before driving home. He also said he’s fallen because of dehydration during binges numerous times, once necessitating a trip to the emergency room and stitches to his head.
More frequently, Robert ended up turning to Zoom when he was high.
“It’s safer and more convenient,” he said. “At least you’re not out in public.”
Like Paul, Robert began to find a sense of community in the Zoom groups, and almost exclusively turned to them when he was high.
But Zoom meth use comes with its own unique dangers, Robert and other people say.
Zoom users often encourage people to use more drugs than they might in in-person groups, Robert said, egging people on to smoke and inject more in the chat.
“I think there’s a lot of potential for heightened risk,” said David Fawcett, vice president of clinical programming at Seeking Integrity, an addiction treatment center that focuses on intersectional drug and sex addictions. “I think people can be certainly less compassionate and empathetic and be more cruel, and actually encourage people to maybe take a bigger dose than they might have.”
Numerous Zoom meth room participants also mentioned the isolating effects of the groups.
“Because of its availability, I think it encouraged me to stay in more often, and to isolate and not look for partners, and it became very addicting just going on Zoom,” Robert said. “It feels like such a waste of time. You’re up all night, the sun comes up, the sun goes down, you miss entire days. In the end, you’re just all alone.”
Ignacio Labayen de Inza, the founder of the harm reduction group Controlling Chemsex, said that heightened levels of isolation could be dangerous for meth users.
“Suicidal thoughts are very common,” he said. “The only interaction that you have with people is messy. It’s chaotic. It’s about fantasizing. And it’s very unsatisfactory because you never get what you want.”
Meth on Reddit, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook
Meth use can be found on almost every major social media and digital communication platform, often with a simple keyword search.
And despite the rules of many tech services against the sale of drugs on their platforms, they are not in agreement on how to treat content depicting meth use.
In its terms of service, Zoom says it bans “obscene” and “illegal” content, despite the continued presence of long-term meth rooms on its platform. There was a period of time in 2018, however, when Zoom was attempting to shut down the rooms, going after the administrators of well-known, large-scale rooms, according to multiple people who participated in the Zoom meth rooms before 2018. But with time and the Zoom boom of the pandemic, the rooms have restarted and largely appear to go unchecked.
Reddit is home to a variety of meth-based communities, including r/meth, which has more than 76,000 members. It’s one of dozens of groups on the platform that openly host content that glorifies meth use, including links to Zoom chats and other platforms. In r/meth, users post photos and videos of themselves using meth, seek advice on topics like cleaning up spilled drugs, and post personal ads looking for other users.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
