Spencer Pratt Is Creating Panic Over 'Super Meth.' It's Not Even Real

"“It's been the dominant form in the US supply for the better part of a decade,” she says. “I've never heard it called 'super meth' in any clinical or scientific context, probably because it's just the meth we've all been seeing for years now. There's nothing novel or uniquely 'super' about it at this point.”"

"Mehtani notes that meth use disorder is notoriously difficult to treat, in part due to the lack of any FDA-approved pharmacotherapies, and that “recovery is genuinely difficult.” But she says that Pratt's narrative misses the root causes of meth use among people experiencing homelessness. “The most common reason I hear is functional,” Mehtani says. “People are using stimulants to stay awake, to maintain vigilance, to survive on the streets at a time of increasing criminalization of poverty and homelessness.”"

"“Calling it 'super meth' obscures all of that and reduces a complex public health problem to a moral panic, which tends to push us toward punitive responses and away from the evidence-based interventions that actually help,” Mehtani warns. She considers the phrase to be “classic War on Drugs language,” describing it as “vague, alarming, and not grounded in how clinicians or researchers actually talk about methamphetamine.”"

P2P meth has been the dominant form in the US supply for much of the past decade. Meth use disorder is difficult to treat, partly because there are no FDA-approved pharmacotherapies, and recovery is genuinely difficult. For people experiencing homelessness, stimulant use is often functional, helping individuals stay awake, maintain vigilance, and survive on the streets amid increasing criminalization of poverty and homelessness. Labeling P2P meth as “super meth” obscures these root causes and reframes a complex public health problem as a moral panic. That framing can encourage punitive responses instead of evidence-based interventions that help.

Read at WIRED