That's what 17 year old Daniel Jeffrey Martin from Desert Vista High School heard from his mom one day while driving near a piece of the desert near his home town of Phoenix, Arizona. "Huh?" he asked. His mom, a forensic scientist (think: CSI), explained to him that when dead bodies are found in the desert by animals like coyotes, bobcats, and wolves, these scavengers will usually eat them—except for the bodies of methamphetamine users (proven by an autopsy).
Winner Daniel Jeffrey Martin with NIDA science fair judges at the 2009 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Daniel thought this would be a perfect science fair project so he studied the records from the local county coroner's office. And sure enough—he learned that even scavenging animals don't want to go near the nasty chemicals left in the body by meth.
These photos from Daniel's science fair poster show the type of marks left by animal scavengers on bones. In his study, Daniel learned that the coroner found fewer scavenging marks on bodies that contained traces of methamphetamines.
The science project was so well done that Daniel won a Second Place Addiction Science Award from NIDA at the 2009 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. You can read more about his project at NIDA's Web site.
Comments
Amazing finding!
I have a brother addicted to meth. I am doing a essay for college on drugs, and I think this will be the main topic .It is very interesting to know that even animals know when they are being poisoned.Pretty smart animals aren't they? To bad the two legged ones are not so smart.
I also have a brother addicted to meth.But he was tryingi to reach out for help no he was crying out for help,meth had sent him over and over to the justice system due to robbery to support habit.He finally breaks down and ask his parole officer for help no bed available for treatment.next visit with parole officer he revokes him and sends him back to jail without treatment ever available for him to seek.confused
i didnt know meth could do so much damage
?????????? WHY DO PEOPLE DO METH??????????
PEOPLE SHOULDNT DO IT!!!!
I am a mother of 2. This article is one of a billion I am finding important about meth. My teen is 13, strongly involved in D.A.R.E. I am concerned by the bias of kids that seem strong in not doing drugs, against those that have slipped....I am seeing what is called "dark humor" jokes at the expense of those that could be drug free. How can these support programs approach this problem to deter this? The jokes are sickening - I am worried for children not mine.... seeking help & shunned... like past issues of history? Black jokes, Polish, Jewish, SO inappropriate... what about these kids on meth & other things seeing this bias?
cool
i can see why people get into it makes monye
im a recovering meth user and im in rehab but i wanted to know who long it takes your body to fully recover?
@nokia: If people can stay off methamphetamine for an extended period, they can get some recovery from the brain changes that the drug causes. But even through brain imaging studies have shown partial recovery of brain function in some regions following extended abstinence, function in other regions did not show recovery even after 2 years of abstinence. This suggests that long-lasting and even permanent brain changes may result from methamphetamine abuse.
Read more about it here.
Im a common meth user i suck [del. vulgar lang] for meth everyday. DON'T TRY IT!! My addictions got that bad
thats just messed up you
methhead
one of my friends dose meth, but i haven't seen her in two years, i hope she gets better soon.i just hope she gets better.
Matt, im sorry ur going through this. my dad was a meth head. he was shot trying to rob a covenece store. i havent seen him since i was 8
95% of all young people try drugs and alcohol by age 25...driven by curiousity, perhaps boredom and peer pressure. MOST teens can put those drugs down when they experience consequences of use. Those of us who inherited a tendency to become addicts... just can't do it. It isn't a moral issue, it is (at least in part) a physiological issue. American Medical Association has listed addiction as a disease since 1957, yet the only "treatment" for the disease is "talk therapy", which may work for (tops) about 30% of those addicted. Recovery rates from heroin and meth? Less than 10%. This same country of ours has eleventeen different drugs available to treat erectile dysfunction. Sort of highlights where our priorities lie, I'm afraid. If we had a gene therapy treatment, or an innoculation or even a chemotherapy treatment for addiction, I believe our prisons would be empty in less than a decade; more families would stay together; and more children would be saved. But those of us who 'vote' for more jails and less rehab might want to try to see beyond the terrible behaviors of those who use meth, heroin and other drugs, and consider that these horrid acts are being conducted by our children... who are often addicted far before they leave high school. As a mom of an addict, I know how heartbreaking addiction can be.
I just heard this on CSI so of course I had to google it. All I can say is WOW. I remember a report on one of those shows like 48 hours where a couple had purchased a house in which it was a meth lab. They did not know that meth users had lived there because I think it was like a hud house or something. Well they begin to get sick and had to move out and foreclose on the house. They found out later that a the house was once a meth lab. I guess that is another thing to have done before you buy a home. To test for meth use and mold.
Congrats on the awesome work on the destructive use of meth use.
this gave alot of information thank you this is a very good website to go to when i need to give a friend help i will tell them to go to this site
I agree my friend looked terrible and he came in with scars and he looked like he died inside.
im doin a science fair project on meth so any advices can help!! thanks! btw sorry about your problems people!!
Add new comment