What is Methamphetamine?

Methamphetamine (N-methyl-alpha-methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant and used as a recreational drug. Methamphetamine hydrochloride is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) under the trade name Desoxyn for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity in adults and children, It is rarely prescribed due to concerns involving human neurotoxicity and its high potential for recreational use, among other concerns, and the availability of safer substitute drugs with comparable treatment efficacy.

The illegal use of methamphetamine is one of the big issues for the most of the countries in the world. It is approved by FDA in United States of America (DesoxynTM) for ADHD and obesity (United States Food and Drug Administration, 2013). However, use of methamphetamine has to be in minimum quantity to avoid the side effects and inherent risks. It can change the mood, increase consciousness, and energy in individual, reduce appetite and promote weight reduction at low usage. On the other hand, long term usage may cause anxiety, confusion, insomnia, and mood disturbances and display violent behaviour and psychosis (NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). Therefore, it becomes necessary to use the rapid and cost-effective method to analyse methamphetamine which will be alternative methods for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).