Methamphetamine Toxicity
Methamphetamine Toxicity
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COVID-19

Help yourself and those around you by staying informed on COVID-19 precautions and harm reduction.

What to Look Out For

SYMPTOMS OF WITHDRAWL AND COVID-19 ARE SIMILAR. Headache, fever, or muscle soreness may only be withdrawal symptoms, but can also possibly be COVID-19. If symptoms worsen and there’s consistent cough and loss of taste and smell, this may be COVID-19.

  • Meth worsens YOUR ability to breathe
    • Using other drugs (cigarettes, vape, opioids, alcohol) in combination with meth can make it harder for you to breathe
    • Withdrawal can impair ability to breathe
    • Normally, drug users have poorer immune systems
    • COVID-19 will further worsen difficulties breathing

BEING AN AVID USER INCREASES YOUR LIKELIHOOD OF BECOMING SEVERELY ILL OR DYING FROM COVID-19

What Precautions Should You Take?

  • If you feel sick, ISOLATE and AVOID spaces with people as best as you can
    • Tell your local addiction program that you might be sick
    • Try to get supplies delivered to you

  • Prepare for sudden and involuntary withdrawal
    • You/your dealer/someone along the drug supply chain can get COVID-19
    • Stock up on medications, food, and drinks in case you get sick
      • Have protein and electrolyte-based drinks (Pedialyte, Ensure, Gatorade)
    • Prevent yourself from bingeing on your stock pile of drugs/alcohol
      • Manage use
      • If you have an alcohol use disorder drink 1 can of beer/1.5 ounces of a spirit/5 ounces of wine as needed (hourly)

Harm Reduction

A syringe waster container with a syringe inside it.

Prepare for syringe exchange and drug treatment programs to close. Stockpile naloxone, syringes, cookers, pipes, and straws. Find a container to use as waste for empty syringes.

These are some steps you can follow to lower your risk of COVID-19 infection:

  1. Wash your hands
    • Wash hands with soap for at least 20 seconds vigorously and use paper towel afterwards. If you do not have soap, use any alcohol-based cleaner (towelettes, hand sanitizer)
  2. Clean supplies and packages
    • Try to wipe down your packages and supplies with an alcohol-based cleaner as best as you can. If your supplier puts the drugs in their mouth or elsewhere, ask them to stop doing this
  3. Don’t share supplies
    • Food, cutlery, pipes, bongs, needles, etc. should not be shared at any time, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak
    • If you do share drugs or supplies, make sure that you and the person handling them are always washing their hands and wiping down the supplies
  4. Don’t inject alone
    • In case of emergency, have someone with you, but make sure they are 6 feet away
    • If you’re unable to find someone, have someone on the phone while you inject. If something goes wrong, they will be able to dial 911
  5. If you run out of needles
    • Use what you have
      • Expel all blood (if any) from the syringe first
      • Load needle with bleach (if you have it) and expel once, then rinse with water twice
      • If you don’t have access to bleach, rinse with clean water 3 times
    • If you can no longer use your needles to inject, these are other ways to intake drug
      • Snort: chop into a fine powder and snort slowly
      • Smoke: need to have a clean pipe in order to do so
      • Swallow: effect might not be as good as injecting
      • Booty bump: combine drug and citric/ascorbic acid into a needleless syringe and inject it into your anus
        • This may be the best option because the effect is long and less of the drug is needed
        • It may take a while to feel the effects

Information was collected from Yale Program in Addiction Medicine, Global Health Justice Partnership, and Crackdown. “Guidance for People Who Use Substances on COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus).”