Jodie Sweetin talks about drug addiction

[Mr. Stefani]

from abcnews.com


Feb. 1, 2006 — As Stephanie Tanner on the 1990s hit sitcom "Full House," child actress Jodie Sweetin portrayed a young, innocent girl who lived in a happy, healthy supportive home.

"Growing up when I was on the series, I never really watched, even from this day, it's surreal to watch myself on television," said Sweetin. "Growing up in the business you have to grow up very fast — you do have a different type of childhood, that has its benefits and it has its drawbacks."

When the show ended in 1995, she said she wanted to be a normal kid. She went to high school and college and by age 20 was married to a Los Angeles police officer — TV older sister Candice Cameron was in the wedding party.

But two years ago, she found herself dangerously addicted to one of the most debilitating drugs, methamphetamine. She said she was unemployed and bored and began simply by experimenting. Soon, she was using meth everyday.

The tabloid press reported a three-day bender as well as an intervention staged by her "Full House" castmates — including the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, John Stamos and Bob Saget.

Sweetin, 24, never went as far as to blame her life as a child star for her addiction, but said that it was difficult to discover who she truly was after the show ended.

"There is a certain sense of loss when a series ends," she said. "It is kind of hard to figure out who you are when you've lost your job at age 13, when that was basically how you identified yourself."

Sweetin said she checked herself in to the Promises drug rehab facility where she went underwent six weeks of intense treatment. She realized that she "was living a total double life," she said. "I was married to a police officer — we are going through a divorce right now — he had no idea."

Sweetin has been clean and sober since March of last year and now wants to get back into acting.

"I want to make movies, TV series, wherever the career takes me," she said. "I really hope this isn't the last people hear of me. In fact, I would like to make this a footnote in my career, not the end."

[PrettyinPink55]

Thank you for posting this. I am glad she's doing better.

[musicradio77]

I hope she's fine.

[passionsfan79]

I think i heard about this on z99 one of the radio station's this morning and they were saying her cast members names

[barb1686]

Wow. Just wow. I didn't want to believe it, but now I guess it's undeniable.

I'm glad she's clean...I just want to say, way to go Jodie for checking yourself in. Everyone makes mistakes, so try not to be so hard on yourself. Good-luck with acting...I'd love to see her in some new projects.

[CaptainCharisma]

I don't know why this is so hard to believe. Stephanie the character and Jodie the person are two seperate entities. This doesn't surprise me at all.

A former child star who DOESN'T become a drug addict....now THAT would be hard to believe.

[Ohio8]

There's a two-page story on it in this week's (Feb. 20) "People."

[Ohio8]

I copied it, then scanned and resized it.

[TVFactFan]

Sad to hear. She grew up to be such a beautiful women.

[Scoobiedoo30]

I wish I could seen The Good Morning Amercial Inviewer with Jodie Sweetin

[Danaishot]

I hope she fully gets her life back togeather. It'd be really sad if she were to die because of this addiction. I had a big crush on her during the last 2 seasons of Full House, but she seemed to disappear after that. I'd like to see her do another tv series.

[Scoobiedoo30]

that would be great if Jodie Sweetin would get another Sitcom
on Televison I sure do wish Jodie Sweetin well Jodie Sweetin is my
favorite Attress

[JGM]

Originally Posted by agmfox8@yahoo.com

that would be great if Jodie Sweetin would get another Sitcom
on Televison I sure do wish Jodie Sweetin well Jodie Sweetin is my
favorite Attress

I read in my newspaper The Cincinnati Enquierer about the growning of probelms with people being addicted to meth. When I read that article, I started to think about what happened with Jodie Sweetin with her addiction to Chrystal meth.
If you do not know how dangerous chrystal meth is here is hwat I found out
Methamphetamine is a synthetic stimulant drug used for both medicinal and illicit recreational purposes. Like most stimulants, methamphetamine may induce strong feelings of euphoria and can be addictive. Pure methamphetamine is prescribed by physicians in formulations such as Desoxyn. Illicit methamphetamine comes in a variety of forms. Most coveted is a colorless crystalline solid, sold on the streets as crystal meth, glass, ice, P, Tina, Tik or numerous other street names. It is also sold as less-pure crystalline powder called crank or speed, or in rock formation termed dope, raw or tweak. Yaba (Thai for "crazy medicine") is also based on methamphetamine. It has become one of the world's most prevalent illicit drugs.

Methamphetamine found on the street may be pure, or diluted with the chemicals that were used to synthesize it; in some instances, it may be diluted or cut with inert substances like inositol.
Effects
Methamphetamine is used both medically and recreationally for one or more of the following effects:

Increased alertness, motivation, and brain activity (short-term)
Euphoria in high doses
Weight loss (may also be an adverse effect, depending upon circumstances)
Heightened sexual stimulation
The undesirable effects of methamphetamine use include:

Compulsive fascination with useless repetitive tasks (see Punding)
Severe psychological addiction
Acne
Depression
Formication (false sensation of flesh crawling with bugs, with possible associated compulsive picking and infected sores)
Amphetamine psychosis
Erectile dysfunction ("Crystal ****")
Long-term cognitive impairment due to neurotoxicity
Tooth decay ("meth mouth")
Damage to immune system
Persistent anhedonia with chronic use
Death
Medical use
Methamphetamine is used medically to treat the following conditions:
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
narcolepsy
obesity
Contraindications
glaucoma
moderate to severe hypertension
cardiovascular disease
Side effects
Common side effects of methamphetamine include:
Cardiovascular - Hypertension
Endocrinal - Elevated body temperature
Eye - Dilated pupils
Gastrointestinal - Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting
Neuro-psychological - Euphoria followed by depression
Skin - Rash
Miscellaneous - Anorexia, insomnia, restlessness weight loss
Severe side effects (with chronic use) include:
Amphetamine psychosis
Clinical depression
Kidney damage
Liver damage
Pharmacology
Methamphetamine is a potent central nervous system stimulant that affects the brain by acting on the mechanisms responsible for regulating a class of neurotransmitters known as the biogenic amines or monoamine neurotransmitters. This broad class of neurotransmitters is generally responsible for regulating heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, appetite, attention, mood and responses associated with alertness or alarm conditions. Although the exact mechanism of action is unknown, it is generally believed that methamphetamine causes the monoamine transporter to reverse its direction of flow. This releases monamines from the vesicles to the cytoplasm and from the cytoplasm to the synapse and blocks the re-uptake of these neurotransmitters, causing them to remain in the synaptic cleft longer. As in most neurotransmitter chemistry, the affected neuron decreases its production of neurotransmitters, leading to tolerance and withdrawal effects. In medicine it is used as an appetite suppressant in treating obesity, anesthetic overdose, and narcolepsy.
The acute effects of the drug closely resemble the physiological and psychological effects of the fight-or-flight response, including increased heart rate and blood pressure, vasoconstriction (constriction of the arterial walls), pupil dilation, bronchodilation, and hyperglycemia (increased blood sugar). The person who ingests meth will experience an increased focus and mental alertness and the elimination of the subjective effects of fatigue, as well as a decrease in appetite. Many of these effects are broadly interpreted as euphoria or a sense of well-being, intelligence, and power.

The 17th edition of "The Merck Manual" (1999) describes the effects of heavy methamphetamine use in these terms: "Continued high doses of methamphetamine produce anxiety reactions during which the person is fearful, tremulous, and concerned about his physical well-being; an amphetamine psychosis in which the person misinterprets others' actions, hallucinates, and becomes unrealistically suspicious; an exhaustion syndrome, involving intense fatigue and need for sleep, after the stimulation phase; and a prolonged depression, during which suicide is possible" (p. 1593 - ch. 195). Depending on delivery method and dosage, a dose of methamphetamine will potentially keep the user awake with a feeling of euphoria for periods lasting 2–24 hours.

The acute effects decline as the brain chemistry starts to adapt to the chemical conditions and as the body metabolizes the chemical, leading to a rapid loss of the initial effect and a significant rebound effect as the previously-saturated synaptic cleft becomes depleted of the same neurotransmitters that had previously been elevated. Many users then compensate by administering more of the drug to maintain their current state of euphoria and alertness. This process can be repeated many times, often leading to the user remaining awake for days, after which secondary sleep deprivation effects manifest in the user. Classic sleep deprivation effects include irritability, blurred vision, memory lapses, confusion, paranoia, hallucinations, nausea, and (in extreme cases) death. After prolonged use, the meth user will begin to become irritable, most likely due to lack of sleep.

Methamphetamine is reported to attack the immune system, so meth users are often prone to infections of different kinds, one being an MRSA infection. This, too, may simply be a result of long-term sleep deprivation and/or chronic malnutrition.

It is a common belief that methamphetamine gives people super-human strength. This is not really true, although methamphetamine inhibits pain and increases metabolism, which allows a person to push muscles to points of failure that would otherwise be harder or impossible to reach. (See the article entitled Exercise and Stimulants for a better description of the factors involved.)

Other side effects include twitching, "jitteriness", repetitive behavior (known as "tweaking"), and jaw clenching or teeth grinding. It has been noted anecdotally that methamphetamine addicts lose their teeth abnormally fast; this may be due to the jaw clenching, although heavy meth users also tend to neglect personal hygiene, such as brushing teeth. It is often claimed that smoking methamphetamine speeds this process by leaving a crystalline residue on the teeth, and, while this is apparently confirmed by dentists, no clinical studies have been done to investigate.

Some users exhibit sexually compulsive behavior and may engage in extended sexual encounters with one or more individuals, often strangers. As it is symptomatic to continue taking the drug to combat fatigue, an encounter or series of encounters can last for several days. This compulsive behavior has created a link between meth use and sexually transmitted disease (STD) transmission, especially HIV and syphilis. This caused great concern among larger gay communities, particularly those in Atlanta, Miami, New York City, and San Francisco, leading to outreach programs and rapid growth in 12-step organizations such as Crystal Meth Anonymous.

[edit]
Addiction
Methamphetamine is an addictive drug. While withdrawal symptoms are less pronounced than those of alcohol or opiates (such as heroin), they are nonetheless physiological in nature and could include seizures, narcolepsy, and stroke. Furthermore, the mental and social consequences of quitting can be severe and extremely difficult for the addict. As with all addictions, relapse is common.

In an article about his son's addiction to methamphetamine, a California writer who has also experimented with the drug put it this way:

[T]his drug has a unique, horrific quality. In an interview, Stephan Jenkins, the singer in the band Third Eye Blind, said that methamphetamine makes you feel 'bright and shiny.' It also makes you paranoid, incoherent and both destructive and pathetically and relentlessly self-destructive. Then you will do unconscionable things in order to feel bright and shiny again (David Sheff, "My Addicted Son," New York Times Magazine, February 6, 2005, p. 44).
Former users have noted that they feel stupid or dull when they quit using methamphetamine. This is because the brain is adapting a need for methamphetamine to think faster, or at what seems to be a higher level. Individuals with ADHD are often at especially higher risk for addiction to methamphetamine, because the drug often increases the user's ability to focus and reduces impulsivity, creating a mechanism by which one is better able to cope. For this reason, drugs like this must be used only under the supervision of a physician. The individual with ADHD is susceptible to meth's adverse effects (see below), so prescription stimulants such as methylphenidate (Ritalin®), dextroamphetamine (Dexadrine®) and amphetamine salt (Adderall®) are overwhelmingly indicated.

With long-term methamphetamine use, enough dopamine will have flooded the brain to cause chemical cell damage. This often leads to slow thinking (which in turn requires that the addict use meth to 'fix' it), and depression. This is known colloquially as "The Vampire Life."

Very serious long-term meth abuse correlates highly with poor hygiene and general self-care, and many of the health risks inherent in administering the drug are often severely exacerbated by this. Poor hydration and infrequent dental hygiene strongly increase the risks of damage to teeth from smoking or snorting, while infrequent bathing increases the chance that minor skin rashes or irritations on the arm from needle use will progress to infection and complications. Generally poor maintenance of living conditions can increase the general risk of exposure to illness through a wide variety of malaise-causing agents, such as bacteria that may grow in poorly cleaned living spaces. Finally, if methamphetamine does in fact attack the immune system, it follows that the ability of the individual to resist any illness is compromised, and that heavy meth users, over time, become more susceptible to poor health and illness in general. Severe cases of addiction are often marked by many of these symptoms and hallmarks, which can work in combination to almost completely destroy the user's health.

[edit]
Physical and chemical properties
Methamphetamine is an synthetic compound similar in structure to amphetamine and MDMA (Ecstasy). Compared to most illegal drugs, methamphetamine is a simple molecule with a low molecular weight.

Unlike freebase cocaine ("crack"), which is a waxy, smokeable form of cocaine, freebase methamphetamine is an oily liquid that has no use except in the production of street methamphetamine. Before the manufacturer (or "cook") can sell his drug, he must convert the oil to methamphetamine hydrochloride. Usually this is done via an acid/base extraction into dilute hydrochloric acid solution, out of a solvent such as naphtha or toluene.

Methamphetamine hydrochloride is a salt of methamphetamine, and this is what most people think of when they think of street meth. On the street, this hydrochloride salt is called "crystal meth," "speed" "crank," "crystal," and dozens of other names.

The HCl salt of meth can be vapourised in a glass pipe or smoked with cannabis or other materials because it dissociates into HCl gas and gaseous methamphetamine freebase at approximately 190 degrees C. The HCl salt is somewhat hygroscopic but generally speaking if it is pure it does not absorb water from the air very quickly, if at all.

If meth appears to be 'wet' that is probably because of excess HCl remaining in the salts, or, probably as commonly, trace amounts of hygroscopic polymers which are residual from the pills the pseudoephedrine is extracted from.

[edit]
Routes of Administration
Methamphetamine can be swallowed, snorted, smoked, dissolved in water and injected,inserted anally (with or without dissolution in water), or into the urethra. As with all addictive drugs, the potential for addiction is greater when it is delivered by methods that cause the concentration in the blood to rise quickly, principally because the effects desired by the user are felt more quickly and with a higher intensity than through a moderated delivery mechanism. In fact, studies have shown that the subjective pleasure of drug use (the reinforcing component of addiction) is proportional to the rate that the blood level of the drug increases. In general, smoking is the "fastest" mechanism (i.e., it causes the blood concentration to rise the most quickly in the shortest period of time as it allows the substance to travel to brain through a more direct route than intravenous injection), followed by injecting, then snorting, then swallowing. It is not entirely certain where anal insertion would fall on this list, but some scant anecdotal evidence puts the effects somewhere between those of smoking and snorting.

Methamphetamine is a powerful decongestant, so methamphetamine users who snort it will often have very clear nasal cavities. However, there have been rare cases of people snorting so much meth that their nose cartilage deteriorates, though snorting cocaine is far more likely to cause nasal degeneration, due to its vasoconstrictive properties. Snorting methamphetamine may also cause tooth decay, since the nasal passages are directly connected to the mouth region, and it is theorized that damaging crystalline particles can still attach to the teeth. Another theory is that the drug directly affects calcium balance in the body. Crystal Meth has also been shown to decrease the production of saliva, the lack of which causes tooth decay.

Methamphetamine is commonly smoked in glass pipes, or in aluminum foil heated by a flame underneath. This method is also known as "chasing the white dragon". (as derived from the method of smoking heroin known as "chasing the dragon"), Methamphetamine must be heated (not burned) to cause the desired smoke. Smoking methamphetamine is probably the most impure form of ingestion. In addition to the possible effects on teeth, it is very damaging to the lungs. Methamphetamine users who smoke it sometimes experience mild asthma, which can be countered by inhaling salbutamol aerosol spray, or epinephrine aerosol. Another problem with smoking meth is the potential presence of oxidation byproducts created when the heated drug comes in contact with air. Even if the initial drug is pure methamphetamine, the act of smoking it produces other chemicals, some of which may be toxic.

Injection is a popular method for use, but potentially carries quite serious risks. The hydrochloride salt of methamphetamine is soluble in water; injection users may use any dose from 200mg to over a gram in one I.V. dose using a small needle. In methamphetamine research, injection users often do not experience severe tooth decay, presumably because there is no residue left as there is through smoking it. But injection users experience greater jaw-clenching than users who snort or smoke it, since injecting methamphetamine has a much more powerful effect. This can cause loose teeth, so injection users still do lose their teeth. Also, this method of ingestion brings the risk of infection; injection users often experience skin rashes (sometimes called "speed bumps") and all kinds of infections due to the methamphetamine damage to the skin. As with any injected drug, if a group of users shares a common needle without sterilization procedures, blood-borne diseases such as HIV or hepatitis can be transmitted as well.
Very little research has focused on anal insertion as a method, and anecdotal evidence of its effects is infrequently discussed, possibly due to social taboos in many cultures regarding the anus. This is often known within communities that use meth for sexual stimulation as a "booty bump" or "Keistering," and is anecdotally reported to increase sexual pleasure[5] while the effects of the drug last. The rectum is where the majority of the drug would likely be taken up, through the mucous membranes lining its walls. Lack of direct exposure to teeth probably insulates users from the majority of damaging dental effects, but damage to sensitive anal and rectal tissues is a risk. Weakness in these tissues may increase the risk of transmission of sexually-transmitted infections during sex. If enough methamphetamine is taken so that not all of it is completely dissolved, abrasion of any prophylactic devices (such as condoms) used during sex can occur due to friction with undissolved meth crystals. This can contribute to breakage of the prophylactic, and increased risk of disease transmission.
The information I am giving you I got from the internet.
Thankfully she is drug free nopw. When I read abouyt it I realized that Jodie could have died from using it. SHe could have done major damege to her liver and kidneys from using this drug. It sends chills through my spine thinking about this,