A recent Los Angeles mayoral debate has sparked renewed discussion over the role of drug addiction in the city’s homelessness crisis and brought new attention to a dangerous form of methamphetamine known as “super meth.”
During Wednesday’s forum, mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt criticized city leaders for what he described as a failure to address addiction alongside homelessness.
“The reality is no matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth, they are on fentanyl,” Pratt said during the debate.
According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, experts say “super meth,” also known as P2P meth or phenyl-2-propanone methamphetamine, has become increasingly common in recent years because it is cheaper and easier to produce than traditional methamphetamine.
Terry Church, director of the Institute for Addiction Sciences Education Committee at USC, told the Times that the newer version of meth can reach purity levels of about 97%, compared to older formulations that were closer to 75% to 80% pure. Church said the drug can produce a longer-lasting high and may lead to more severe brain, liver and cardiovascular damage.
Federal data cited by the Times shows methamphetamine seizures across the U.S. have reached record purity levels, with many shipments entering through the southern border.
However, Los Angeles County public health officials say they are not currently seeing significant amounts of P2P methamphetamine in local drug testing data and said it does not appear to be a common form of meth in Los Angeles.
The debate comes as city leaders continue searching for solutions to both homelessness and addiction, two issues many experts say are deeply connected.
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