Like most illegal drugs, using methamphetamine is like a game of Russian roulette. “I was 15 years old and I didn't want my mom to know I was using, so I would invite a couple of friends over to stay the night, and we would chop it up and snort it in my bedroom," said Rachel Hamric, a recovered meth User.

Crank--ice--speed--or more notoriously known as Crystal Meth, is a highly addictive drug that can be made from everyday house hold products.

Cecilia Mackie, the Deputy Director of Nurses at C.A.R.E., in Panama City stated, "It's absolutely addicting, once you do it, you can't stop"

"After a few years of doing this,” said Hamric. “It got to the point that I never wanted to come down. I just wanted to stay high."

Hamric spent nearly six years on a euphoric high. “The feeling that it gave me, it sped me up more so, but really I felt um, I felt almost like I would open up more, like I could come out of my shell, like I could be someone else. And that's who I wanted to be"

The high Hamric referred to comes from the release of dopamine or adrenaline in the brain.

“Dopamine is a neurotransmitter; it exists in the reward area of the brain,” said Neurologist, Dr. Mutaz Tabbaa MD. “Dopamine is secreted when your happy, or when you have pleasure."

This is a normal brain--this is a brain on meth. For doctor Tabbaa--it's what you *cannot* see about the meth addict that's most alarming. "If you look at the surface of the brain, the distance between the bone matter and then those grooves in the surface, you see there's not much space between the bone and the brain,” said Dr. Tabbaa MD.

Over time--meth literally shrinks and erodes the brain. "If you weigh a normal brain and the brain of a chronic drug abuser, you're going to see that your brain lost certain weight."

Although studies show these tissues can regenerate over time, the process can take years, and the repair may never be complete. "You can have permanent brain damage and your brain can never be the same." chronic use can lead to psychotic behavior--some users have claimed to feel insects crawling beneath their skin.

“They pick their skin, they have soars on their face, on their legs, women will pick at their face and cover it with makeup," said Mackie.

In addition--when a person smokes meth, these substances are heated, vaporized and swirled throughout the user's mouth. And the end result--meth mouth.

"This is the classic meth mouth problem...as you can see the roots are in tact and the portions of the teeth are completely destroyed. Meth causes you to have lots of cravings for sugar, also causes a lot of problems with people grinding and clenching their teeth and ends up breaking off the teeth. Dr. Melzer has treated countless patients at the st. Andrews clinic for this very problem. "Basically the end treatment is you loose all your teeth and you do it quickly," said Melzer.

Whether it is smoked, snorted or injected, the outcome is the same. Overtime meth mercilessly ravages the brain and body. “If I was still using today, I wouldn’t be alive,” said Hamric. “I was like 100 pounds, I had OD'd and there were so many times I would just pass out, and people couldn't wake me up.