<story><title>The main thing about Phenylacetone meth is that there&apos;s so much of it</title><url>https://dynomight.net/p2p-meth/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dynm</author><text>Around a week ago, I came across this link here on HN that suggested that there&amp;#x27;s a new form of meth:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=28938888&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=28938888&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The theory is that new meth is based on a synthesis using a chemical called P2P rather than the old synthesis that used ephedrine. There are claims that this new form of meth is chemically different in some what that started creating schizophrenia around 2017.&lt;p&gt;However, when I looked into it, there doesn&amp;#x27;t seem to be much support for this idea. Current meth is more pure than ever before. Some people suggest that the use of lead could be responsible, but not all P2P syntheses use that, and it wasn&amp;#x27;t common in 2017. Instead, it seems like the explanation is just the obvious one: P2P synthesis has resulted in people doing much, much more meth than ever before.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dcolkitt</author><text>Much of the effects of any intoxicant are culturally constructed. Alcohol is widely known for causing aggression, but this effect doesn’t seem to exist in cultures without that association. Nor does it exist in double-blind studies, yet the placebo group becomes more aggressive.&lt;p&gt;You can start with two chemically identical intoxicants, and either by marketing or random path dependencies one gains a reputation in the subculture for making people go crazy. You can bet that large number of people are going to act wild on it.&lt;p&gt;This is no different than the reputation different types of alcohol have garnered. Gin makes people mean. Whisky makes people emotional. Tequila makes people party like crazy. It’s all ethanol, but those cultural preconceptions become self-fulfilling prophecies.&lt;p&gt;In many ways that makes these rumor filled, science light, unsubstantiated media stories about “this is the most dangerous drug ever” incredibly irresponsible. The stories themselves create the cultural preconditions around encouraging more self-destructive behavior among users. This isn’t even just drugs. Look at the moral panic over Four Loko. The same cocktail of ethanol and caffeine has been consumed as amaro and coffee by rich women since time immemorial. Yet it never caused moral panic until the “wrong type of people” started consuming it.</text></comment>
<story><title>The main thing about Phenylacetone meth is that there&apos;s so much of it</title><url>https://dynomight.net/p2p-meth/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dynm</author><text>Around a week ago, I came across this link here on HN that suggested that there&amp;#x27;s a new form of meth:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=28938888&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=28938888&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The theory is that new meth is based on a synthesis using a chemical called P2P rather than the old synthesis that used ephedrine. There are claims that this new form of meth is chemically different in some what that started creating schizophrenia around 2017.&lt;p&gt;However, when I looked into it, there doesn&amp;#x27;t seem to be much support for this idea. Current meth is more pure than ever before. Some people suggest that the use of lead could be responsible, but not all P2P syntheses use that, and it wasn&amp;#x27;t common in 2017. Instead, it seems like the explanation is just the obvious one: P2P synthesis has resulted in people doing much, much more meth than ever before.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Enginerrrd</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s even more silly a claim because P2P based syntheses have been in common use for many decades.  They were especially popular amongst the Hells Angels&amp;#x27; chemists.  I&amp;#x27;m not sure what their final reductive amination step was, but I&amp;#x27;d guess Al-Hg amalgam &amp;amp; methylamine.</text></comment>