There are many different substances which have a destructive effect on an individual, their family and society at large when abused. But few are as addictive, powerful and destructive as meth. Meth, or crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice, is a powerful stimulant which has become rampantly popular due to its ease of manufacture. Due to the fact that it can be synthesized using easily found household goods it is widely available and its negative consequences can be found in many different types of community, from affluent to poor. It is hard to stereotype a meth user because they come from all different backgrounds and walks of life. One of the most effective ways of preventing someone from using meth is to expose them to carefully chosen meth pictures.
One of the tragic aspects of meth use on an individual is the rapid and noticeable decline it causes their physical appearance. Users can quickly go from looking relatively healthy and socially acceptable to looking like visible drug addicts in a short space of time. For young people and other potential users of meth who have not yet been fully exposed to the substance, meth pictures illustrating the physical decline and misfortune that many users experience can be powerful tools in preventing future use of meth from occurring. If meth pictures are going to be used in this way then they should be carefully chosen and seek to serve this particular purpose in order to avoid confusing the visual message being conveyed.
A potent and thankfully effective deterrent to meth use can occur when potential users view real-life before and after pictures depicting the consequence of heavy or prolonged methamphetamine use. To see how quickly meth can turn someone from a healthy, happy and adjusted looking person to a physically grotesque wreck is a powerful visual incentive to avoid the same fate for the person viewing the images. This level of stark reality can also help destroy any unrealistic or glamorous image potential users may have of the substance due to misleading sources of information such as friends or the internet.
Meth pictures are one of the most effective category of deterrent photos due to the massive changes in appearance that a heavy user can experience. The war that meth wages on a person's looks is violent and rapid. The substance can destroy a person's natural ability to store and make use of vital vitamins and minerals such as calcium. This can result in the human body sourcing this nutrients from available sources such as teeth and bones, resulting in the grotesque, skeletal appearance that some users have.
The substance can also dry out the skin.
Meth pictures have such high levels of visual impact due to the physical changes in a person's body on a chemical level that meth use causes. It is far from the physical effects of the meth alone which make meth pictures a powerful deterrent however. Meth also has a devastating psychological power over those it enslaves, making them neglect their personal hygiene in favor of finding and using more meth. This results in poor oral hygiene. When coupled with the already destructive effects of the meth the lack of personal grooming can cause a person's appearance to decline significantly further.
Anyone doubting the effectiveness of meth pictures as a deterrent need only to look to the number of billboard campaigns that have features real-life before and after pictures of users. One of the reasons these are so powerful is due to the fact that we live in such a vain and image-oriented society. In the modern Western world physical beauty and appearance is often placed as one of the highest ideals. One of the fastest ways to lose any sign of attractiveness, health and normality is to start using meth so seeing pictures of users in the states they end up in can deter young people from getting involved.
It is hard to put a price on the chaos, pain and misery that crystal meth brings to the modern world. As well as the tragedies of countless young lives lost to addiction there is a huge cost to society in terms of addicts committing crime and socially destructive behavior in order to fuel their habit. Viewing some carefully chosen meth pictures is a powerful preventative step in the war against meth.