Is there a difference between adderall and meth?
What’s the difference between adderall and meth? I’m a former addict who’s drug of choice was amphetamines in all of their forms. After years of experimentation with these substances I’m now 4 years sober and am able to look back in retrospect to provide the observational content of this article. There’s no science behind my claims, nearly vast amounts of experience which can be subjective to the individual.
Let’s Get Started
To start off this article on whether or not there’s a difference between adderall and meth, I will start with the similarities. The similarity is the high at it’s peak is identical. In a blind test, I could never tell you the difference between adderall and meth. Adderall has a slightly higher body load (feeling of stress on the body) and a worse comedown. Vyvanse is even more like meth with a reduced body load and easier comedown. This is due to vyvanse being pure lisdexamfetamine (exclusively orally active dextro-amphetamine) and not the combination of amphetamines found in adderall.
Meth is not more potent than adderall by dosage. Pure methamphetamine has a common dose around 10-30mg to obtain a high while doctors commonly prescribe between 10-30mg pills of adderall. Furthermore, this is assuming the compound is pure. Meth is often cut or not manufactured properly, 100% pure meth is a dream while adderall is guaranteed to be at least 99% pure. In short, if you ate 20mg of street methamphetamine it’d probably feel weaker then eating 20mg of prescribed adderall.
What Are the Differences?
Because methamphetamine is processed in underground labs it’s more dangerous. Tons of harmful compounds are used to cook meth and the process typically isn’t handled in a lab setting by people who care about their clients. It’s rare for meth to contain so many impurities to cause serious health ramifications from the first use, but overtime these impurities will cause greater degradation to organs.
Methamphetamine is much cheaper than adderall in a street setting. The cost of a gram of methamphetamine on the street is typically around $90 and if it’s 70% pure then you’d get 700mg of meth. That would be the equivalent of 70 10mg adderall pills, 35 20mg pills, or 17.5 30mg pills which will commonly set you back more than $90. The reason behind meth being cheaper is that adderall is more socially acceptable so there’s a bigger market. If a college student says, “I took adderall to pass my exam,” people may shake their head in disapproval. However, if the same student said, “I took meth to pass my exam,” everyone would gasp in disbelief. Even though they’re very similar drugs, the negative stigma on meth makes the market smaller so the prices are lower.
The Biggest Difference Between Adderall and Meth
I saved this for last because this is a major difference between these two compounds, and it’s the route of administration. Adderall you have to eat or snort to get effects from, you can’t smoke or inject adderall without performing a somewhat advanced extraction few will undergo. You can snort adderall but there’s so many fillers within the pill it’s like snorting a bunch of chalk for 20mg of powder. There’s a big difference in the rush between waiting 30 minutes for something to start kicking in over time and going from sober to a full blown peak within seconds. The rush of smoking or injecting methamphetamine is exhilarating and far more psychologically addictive.
The route of administration from smoking, injecting, or snorting meth also means there’s greater bioavailability. In other words, you need a lot less of the substance to achieve the same effects. This makes meth even more cheap which in turn makes it more accessible and more addictive.
These routes of administration can also be a ritual for many. The act of rolling a bowl to blow large smooth clouds without burning the substance, loading up a syringe, pulling out a rolled dollar bill can further the psychological addiction immensely as the brain associates these task to a massive surge of dopamine.
I hope this article helped outline the what’s similar and the difference between adderall and meth!
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Philip Markoff (Associate of Science) is an online influencer and thought leader on addiction education; he is known as his alias “CG Kid” who’s obtained a large audience primarily on YouTube as a vlogger and journalist. His current sobriety date from polysubstance chemical dependency is June 9th, 2013.
Marc-Andre "Abso" Lacombe says
Let’s all not forget that these slight chemical differences can make a vast difference when it comes to effect… H2O is water while H2O2 is peroxide. You try to have a large glass of peroxide on a hot summer day and tell me they are essentially the same…
Philip Markoff says
For sure, the image I used was to illustrate the similarities in effects I experience but you’re absolutely right. Even a drug that’s mirrored can change something harmless to something fatal at low doses.
Marco says
I’m sorry I’m not well educated on adderrall but does it pop up on drug tests?
Philip Markoff says
Yes, Adderall will show up as amphetamines. I don’t believe they even differentiate amphetamines from meth in standard drug tests. As a matter of fact, advil cold & sinus contains pseudoephedrine which can make you test positive for amphetamines. If you’re prescribed adderall you’re fine.
WB says
OH YES, THEY DO…. Adderall is Amphetamine, Crystal Meth is METHamphetamine. That’s what makes it so much stronger…. Just ask anyone who has been on probation, prescribed Adderall, taken meth and is in jail for breach of probation…..