Precursor chemicals like pseudoephedrine can be extracted from over-the-counter cold medications and combined with ingredients that are not only readily available but also inexpensive. For approximately $100, a ''cook'' can produce $1,000 worth of methamphetamine, according to the DEA.

Patricia Case, a keynote speaker at the conference and a social epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, summed up the abuser's perspective with an observation from the late writer Hunter S. Thompson, a known amphetamine user.

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