If anyone has watched the show Breaking Bad, they will know exactly what the title means. For anyone who has not seen or know of the plot, Breaking Bad follows a man named Walter White as he gets diagnosed with Stage III cancer. With only a little time left in his life, he realizes that he is leaving his family with a shaky future. Walt is a chemistry genius, and uses his talents to become a drug kingpin to save his family’s financial future. Walt makes and sells methamphetamine, in particular blue sky, which is 99.1% pure crystal meth, which makes it the best in the world. Walt’s blue sky is immediately sought after not only in the Southwestern United States What exactly is crystal meth, and why did it turn Walter White into a millionaire?
Meth is an illegal drug that is extremely addictive and very similar to cocaine. According to Medical News Today, meth gives the user a long lasting joy ride of excitement that can last around 12 hours, which is significantly longer than most drugs. The reason why crystal meth is so addictive is because people grow tolerance for it. After frequent use, it takes larger doses of meth to reach the extreme euphoria that it gives. Meth can give users extreme hallucinations, psychotic episodes, or depression. Crystal meth in particular affects the release of a brain chemical called dopamine. Medical News today said that dopamine is a chemical that affects your emotions, your motivation, and sensations of pleasure and pain. Taking lots of crystal meth creates a build up of dopamine in your brain, similar to cocaine. Not only does crystal meth build up dopamine, it also Meth also destroys your body too. One common side effect of crystal meth is “meth mouth” according to Methamphetamine Addiction. Meth mouth is rapid tooth decay after taking crystal meth. Another side effect is crank bugs, which is a hallucination where meth uses think they have bugs crawling under their skin.
Crystal meth is created in meth labs all around the country. In the show, Walt is shown making the crystal meth with classic laboratory tools. Currently in the United States, meth labs are everywhere. According to Methamphetamine Addiction, in 2004, the Drug Enforcement Agency seized 23,829 meth labs across the country. This number has actually decreased because as law enforcement find ways to sniff out the labs, the criminals find ways to avoid being caught. In the three years after 2004, the numbers declined, and in 2012, only 11,000 labs were seized according to Methamphetamine Addiction. These meth labs could be anything from a small, secret shack in the woods, to a normal suburban house. In Breaking Bad, Walt is shown cooking his blue sky with normal lab tools in a small RV in the desert. All the tools that are needed to make the crystal meth are readily available to anyone including flasks, funnels, filters, and hot plates. Crystal methamphetamine is extremely dangerous because of how easy it is to make with such basic tools. Here is a link that talks more about what a super lab is like.
Sources
http://www.methamphetamineaddiction.com/crystal-meth-labs-more-and-more-every-year/
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/23207.php?page=2