Traditionally associated with white, male, blue-collar workers, is now reportedly being used by diverse groups in all regions of the country. Include notable increases among homeless and runaway youth. Increasing use of methamphetamine is reported among male and female commercial sex workers who also trade sex for drugs and among members of motorcycle gangs. There is emerging evidence that methamphetamine is being administered increasingly via the intravenous route. Methamphetamine is not usually sold and bought on the streets like many of the other known illicit drugs.
Users report that they obtain their supplies of methamphetamine from friends and acquaintances.
Because methamphetamine can be made with readily available inexpensive materials, there is great variation in the processes and chemicals used. Uncertainties about the drug's sources and the pharmacological agents used in its production makes it especially difficult to determine its toxicity, and resulting consequences and symptoms. Long reported as the dominant drug problem in the San Diego, California, area, methamphetamine has become a substantial drug problem in other sections of the West and southwest as well. The drug has now been reported in both rural and urban areas of the South and Midwest. It is emerging in major urban areas in the East, but not to the extent seen in other regions of the country.