NEW YORK, July 22 (UPI) -- Workplace drug tests in the United States show a 68 percent increase in the use of methamphetamines, USA Today reported Thursday.
If use continues to rise at this pace, meth will pass cocaine this year as the illegal stimulant of choice, a report released Thursday by Quest Diagnostics said.
The company performed 7.1 million drug tests for employers in 2003.
Manufactured from over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines, the number of meth labs has mushroomed in the past few years, the Drug Enforcement Administration says.
The number of DEA meth lab seizures has risen from fewer than 8,000 in 1999 to 10,000 last year, said DEA spokesman Ed Childress.
Workers use meth because it masks fatigue and offers a feeling of self-confidence without an obvious high. But increasingly large doses are needed to produce the same high, which leads to addiction.
However, UCLA brain mapping expert Paul Thompson said regular meth users lose about 1 percent of their brain cells each year, a loss comparable to that associated with Alzheimer's disease.
