Meth, ADHD and work productivity: Why do so many ADHD people end up using ice?

Thursday, 13 February, 2025.

Photo courtesy: Unsplash.

Note: this article is part one in a two-part series. It’s also a long one. We’ve pieced together a series of stories from peers with ADHD who have used meth, and these nuanced stories deserve space to breathe. If you’re short on time or your attention span isn’t great – it’s on theme for this article – we suggest you dip in and out of this one. Come back to it when you’re ready or read the sections of most interest. You can navigate through the article using the subheadings.

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“I remember, as a child, I was able to consume massive amounts of caffeine and sugar because it balanced me out. I never had the sugar high that everyone else allegedly had,” Aaron says.

It was an early sign that Aaron lives with ADHD. But it wasn’t the only sign.

Many years later, Aaron began to inject methamphetamine. He didn’t spontaneously decide to try the drug. Nobody waved a needle in his face, beckoning him to try it. Nobody chewed his ear off, promising him it would rev him up like a nitrous oxide tank in a modded Subaru WRX. No, for Aaron it was a very careful informed decision.

“The thing that blew my mind, apart from the fact that the sensation felt like ginger beer in my veins, was that I felt calm for the first time ever to be bluntly honest. The voices, inner critique and extra layer of thoughts disappeared.”

Aaron was “dumbstruck”. He didn’t go manic. It simply made him feel “normal”.

“For me, meth makes sense. It’s never been an intrusive aspect in my life. However, it has unfortunately been something that people like to use as a weapon against me.”

Aaron contradicts the image of the stereotypical meth user in mainstream media. He’s largely held down long-term employment while using meth on and off for a number of years and he’s never progressed to everyday usage. As a black man with both ADHD and autism, the odds of recreational and medicinal ice usage remaining just that seems slim on the surface. But this is exactly what’s happened.

Contrary to popular opinion, there’s no stereotypical meth user and most people who try the drug don’t go on to use it regularly. You’ll find people using ice in all parts of society. At Users News, we’ve heard of high-flying lawyers using meth, crane operators working with heavy machinery, miners on good salaries, high-school students, high-school teachers. The list goes on. According to a study on the Australian workforce, people with paid employment are more likely to use meth (4%) than those without a job (2.2%). This study is from 2008 so the figures may be different today, but you won’t find the mainstream press advertising this kind of information.

One group of people though who seem to gravitate towards meth are those with ADHD. One study found that 10.4% of participants who used meth also had ADHD which is roughly double the rate of ADHD in the general population (5%). Another study on chronic meth users found 21% of participants had ADHD.

So how does ice feel for people with ADHD? Does it differ from neurotypical (non-ADHD) people’s experiences with the drug? And why is there a strong link between ADHD and ice-using communities?

What is ADHD?

This is how one ADHD person described the mental condition to a journalist from The Age last year: “Untamed ADHD feels, to me, like I have a fire hose of information spraying at me all the time. It feels like those game shows where they put cash in wind machines and you’re trying to grab the notes, but you just can’t. So I’ll be at a meeting and it feels like this torrent of information is rushing past me, and I’m just missing whole chunks of it.”

Someone with ADHD may pace and fidget a lot, unable to sit still. They may frequently interrupt people speaking by accident because their thoughts are all over the place or racing really fast. Easily distracted, they may struggle to focus on schoolwork, life admin or household chores (the less exciting tasks of daily human life) but they may also hyper-fixate on their own niche interests and hobbies. ADHD is defined by an extreme focus on activities that gives the individual immediate pleasure as much as by a lack of concentration, which is how people have traditionally viewed the disorder. ADHD people may also act impulsively, which means they act rashly and hastily without giving any thought to the possible consequences. This takes “living in the moment” to a whole new level.

ADHD people are often stereotyped as the disruptive kid at the back of the classroom who can never stay on task. An inability to focus is a key trait of ADHD but this stereotype isn’t entirely fair and it’s actually quite stigmatising. It’s also only relevant to the hyperactive kind of ADHD. But not everyone with ADHD acts like this.  There is another kind of ADHD that is defined by passive inattention. This kind of ADHD person is the head in the clouds type. They may be really dreamy and forgetful, a bit of a space cadet.

Most humans experience some of these symptoms but the question is whether these habits impair an individual. That is, do these traits cause someone severe mental distress and does it affect their relationships with the people around them? If so, then you may have ADHD.

What does this all have to with meth?

First off, an explainer. There are really two types of “meth”.

Australians like to call the powder form of meth “goey”, “whizz” or “speed”. Dealers sell goey as a white or off-white powder. It has very similar effects to crystal meth. People tend to snort it or gum it (rubbing the drug into their gums so it absorbs into the body). Goey is sometimes amphetamine sulphate, a slightly different chemical from methamphetamine. But much of the time, especially these days, it’s just crushed up (and likely diluted) crystal meth. As we explored in a recent article, a drug sold as goey could also be a synthetic cathinone, which is a new kind of stimulant drug that is just starting to appear in Australia. Often produced by local bikie gang cooks, goey once fuelled 90s gabber raves, late night hospitality venues and long-haul truck journeys. But the spread of crystallised methamphetamine, a far more potent and profitable amphetamine, since the 00s has largely displaced the drug.

Crystal meth, on the other hand, which is often called “ice”, “shard”, “crystal” or “shabu” down under, is far stronger. It comes as white crystals or rocks and it tends to be smoked with a glass pipe or injected, although you can also snort crystal provided you crush it up.

Although far stronger, methamphetamine is not so different chemically from common ADHD medications, such as dexamphetamine and lisdexamphetamine (Vyvanse), aka “dexies”.

In fact, news stories, reports from local treatment centres and published peer stories indicate that some ADHD people self-medicate with illegal street amphetamines before being formally diagnosed with ADHD or when denied medication following a diagnosis. Reddit threads are littered with stories of people who realised they were ADHD through speed use.

Why do ADHD people often like using ice?

The interplay between ADHD and meth use is complex. On the one hand, the drug can help people with ADHD in their everyday life. It can help them recognise their neurodivergence, leading to self-diagnosis and eventually a formal diagnosis (if they don’t already have a formal diagnosis). Those boring admin tasks and household chores that are always so hard to complete as an ADHD human suddenly become possible.

Describing smoking ice for the first time, Holly, who has ADHD, says, “it was nothing like those government-funded drug campaigns. There was no distress, anger or violence. Instead, I sat down and read a book for the first time in nearly a decade, while the people I was with wrote music together.”

Like Aaron, Holly is not the kind of person you usually see interviewed in a news story about meth. She’s worked full-time for years and she now works in a management position. 

But the interplay between ADHD and meth use is complex. While the drug can have benefits, there’s also a high potential for meth use to spiral for ADHD people with a substantial number of chronic ice users having ADHD. This is likely a result of ADHD traits such as impulsivity and the compulsion to constantly chase dopamine, the chemical in our brain that makes us feel good. ADHD brains don’t produce as much dopamine so the need for people with the condition to fill the gap is heightened. It’s also possible that the perceived benefit of meth’s calming and focusing effects can lead to the rationalisation of regular use.

We’re not denying that ice can cause very serious and real harms within families, romantic relationships, workplaces and friendship circles. This is a hardcore drug, linked to increased chances of psychosis and violent behaviour in some users. Roughly one quarter of regular meth users experience psychosis, many of whom don’t have any personal or family history of schizophrenia.

Of course, that’s not everyone’s experience. See, we’re not trying to underplay the downsides, we’re simply acknowledging that what we see in the media isn’t the whole story. We all have diverse experiences with drugs. 

Aaron, for example, tells Users News he’s never felt any significant negative side effects from his meth use, despite using the drug for around 15 years. “Sometimes feeling sexual is distracting. I just want to be functional,” he states casually.

Aaron attributes his positive story to coming from a relatively well-off family and being an only child.

“I generally have a sunny disposition and I never really came into it with negative baggage,” he says.

It's also important to recognise that, while meth can have some beneficial effects, especially for ADHD people, the drug doesn’t make you smarter. In fact, meth users are more likely to drop out of school, meaning they generally have less (formal) educational qualifications than your average person. Of course, a formal education is only a shallow reflection of our real capabilities and street smarts. But this is something to keep in mind if you’re hoping ice will help you perform well at school, TAFE or university. If used lightly, it might help. But you’re playing with fire if you become reliant on the drug.

As ever, a happy life generally requires moderation. Another peer, Rick, believes that using goey brought him academic success at uni. He says he used the drug semi-regularly for years.

“I did bumps to get through hospo shifts when I was a glassie at a nightclub. I racked up goey at weekend raves. I did keys in the bathrooms at university while studying with my housemate. We used to go to the pub for a break and neck some schooners. We’d then do more goey and head back to the library to smash out work. I never felt cooked out of my mind and I don’t think I was noticeably fried to others in this era of my life, which is probably a sign that this drug was actively helping my (now diagnosed) ADHD.”

Rick recounts one occasion where he was on a 3 or 4 day goey and dexy bender. While he barely slept the whole time, he was “insanely productive”.

“I wrote a 6000-word academic essay with footnotes which I entered into a writing competition. I even managed to fit a 2-day long Tinder date in there. I ended up winning an award for that essay and 500 dollars. A couple of months later, I had to go to the award ceremony in a suit to accept the prize!”

“I felt like I was a poster child for an imagined ‘drugs are great’ movement,” Rick continues.

But the bender did take a short-term toll with Rick catching tonsillitis at the end of it and being bed-ridden for days.

How does the meth experience Differ for women with ADHD?

Holly tells Users News a similar story of academic success while using meth at uni (crucially in moderation). For Holly, the drug unexpectedly functioned as a tool of self-discovery. In other words, it helped her realise she had ADHD. Holy suggests this a common experience for women who are proven to have more difficulty than men receiving ADHD diagnoses.

As a child, Holly was largely undisruptive. Her behaviour only impacted her own learning journey, not her classmates around her at school, so it was attributed to a “deficit” in her. But Holly says that her grades picked up massively when she began to use meth.

 “I wasn’t on meth this whole time but I used it on and off and it helped me to realise I was capable of getting good grades and finding joy in study,” she says.

“As I went into the world of work and higher education, I always seemed to struggle more than others to get the same result, despite knowing I was bright. Using meth was like a revelation, and it prompted me to seek advice from a psychiatrist who confirmed I had ADHD after a very thorough investigation of childhood report cards, endless questioning and speaking to family across several expensive appointments.”

Kat, meanwhile, says she got into goey and meth at the age of 17 through her boyfriend at the time.

“The first time I smoked meth the feeling was unreal,” Kat says. “I remember telling my boyfriend, ‘this is insane, I’ve never felt like this before. It’s like my thoughts have finally been stored away in a filing system and I can view each individual thought at a time.’ Never before had I felt such peace in my mind, my thoughts weren’t racing 24/7. Sitting still was no longer a chore, socialising was no longer painful and damn did I feel articulate.”

When COVID-19 lockdowns began, Kat hit the meth even harder. Her use spiralled. She became severely underweight. She was locked in a permanent state of fight or flight. In the end, she developed psychosis after not sleeping for multiple nights. 

“A youth worker referred me to a psych who confirmed I indeed had ADHD,” she says. “It all made so much more sense. It took 19 years of life for me to realise why school was so difficult, why I was extremely withdrawn as a teenager, why I was so impulsive and why I’d lose my car keys twenty times a day.”

“The men in my life with ADHD appear to have received their diagnosis throughout their schooling career whereas the women in my life seem to get their diagnosis as an adult after years of suffering with negative self image and viewing themselves as lazy. I was labelled a ‘bad kid’ in school for being loud, inattentive and impulsive. I want to hug that version of me and tell her there’s nothing wrong with you.”

Wait lists and pricey psychiatrist sessions pushes some ADHD people into meth use

“The problem is that access to ADHD medication is so heavily controlled in NSW,” Aaron tells Users News. “As an adult you have to wait half a year, sometimes even a full year, to get an initial psychiatrist appointment. It may cost $600 to $1000. You will only get a sliver of that back from Medicare. You will potentially not get a prescription and you have to repeat that same process when the script finishes.”

“When I got diagnosed with ADHD before I got my autism diagnosis, I initially went to a clinician who asked me if I’d ever injected methamphetamine. Being my classic honest and autistic self, I said I had.”

The doctor used this as an excuse to not prescribe Aaron any stimulant-based medications, such as Ritalin or Vyvanse, because he thought there was a possibility of misuse. He confirmed that Aaron does indeed have ADHD but prescribed him Strattera instead, a non-stimulant medication which isn’t as effective.

“I’m definitely one of the people who finds ADHD medication equals me out. The idea of it being seen recreationally is almost hilarious because I’m so disabled by daily life.”

Aaron therefore decided to self-medicate with meth. It was simply an access issue. At the time, Aaron couldn’t afford to pay for multiple psychiatric sessions.

So what does this all mean? Our concluding thoughts

We live in a world that glamorises the grind, where taking part in hustle culture is a badge of honour, where someone’s job and the amount of hours they work each week is a measurement of their value. We also live in a highly distractible world of instant pleasure where everything is available at our fingertips via our phones and computers. It’s little wonder therefore that meth, a drug that makes us highly productive in the short-term, has taken hold not just on Struggle Street, but in workplaces, universities and party spaces.

But this shouldn’t be the case. The answer is certainly not that all ADHD people should hit the ice pipe to cope in a world that fails to adequately accommodate our diverse brains.

See, it’s ok to take time to recharge, to slow things down, to work as a casual or part-time employee instead of a full-time one. It’s ok to not have a job sometimes. Sadly we rarely hear these reassurances but it’s important that we’re kind to ourselves and we respect our limitations. The difficulties of living with ADHD mean that ADHD people are more prone to burn-out than neurotypical (non-ADHD) people, but rarely are they given the tools to effectively manage their condition beyond seeking treatment from doctors who charge an arm and a leg.

Ice can help us push our own boundaries. It’s a drug that can make you feel immortal, unstoppable. But the crash is brutal, and there are very real harmful consequences to prolonged ice use.

It’s also not a viable treatment option for everyone. While some people born into privilege with strong support networks may be able to use the drug recreationally or to self-medicate their ADHD, people in more vulnerable positions will likely have a tougher time.

If you’re thinking of using goey or meth to help your ADHD and boost your productivity or you genuinely believe the drug is helping you without damaging your relationships with the people around you, Aaron offers the following advice.

“Feel comfortable in your own truth and your own experience above all else. Your truth is your truth. You need to know when it becomes a problem and when it’s not a problem.”

“Always have your anchors. Meth is a great thing but you have to use it smartly. You need bumpers around your schedule so you can deal with the side effects,” Aaron explains.

“The other thing is that you need to find people you can confide in who will understand, even if they don’t use meth themselves.”

It's crucial you listen to your trusted people. That includes the confronting advice too. If you’re consistently hearing that your ice use is problematic and harming those around you, listen and sit with that knowledge. There are many free options for support groups who can help you cut down your ice use or cut it out completely.