The plague of methamphetamine addiction has already gripped other parts of the country, and it is now headed for Maine. “We think it’s the beginning of an epidemic,” says Kim Johnson, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse. She likens it to the explosion of OxyContin abuse in Maine in the mid-1990s. Treated cases of “meth” addiction jumped last year from 100 to 160; the 60 percent increase has triggered urgent concern.

Meth is easy to buy and can be swallowed, snorted, smoked or injected. It is easy – but dangerous – to make, from over-the-counter cold or asthma medications plus household ingredients. It produces a six- to eight-hour “high” that gives the user a sense of well-being, empowerment and energy. Athletes and students like its stimulation of physical and mental activity. Blue-collar workers think it helps them work long shifts. People can get hooked on it after using it to lose weight. Teenagers sometimes think incorrectly that it’s not a drug and like the way it can keep them lively at all-night parties.

But after that initial rush, a state of frantic agitation often follows. It can lead to violent behavior. Craving and dependency quickly develop. While meth is not as expensive as heroin or cocaine, a habit that can cost $100 per gram or more can lead to crime. Home labs can explode or catch fire, and fumes can damage liver, kidneys, and the central nervous system.

Prolonged use can cause brain damage, heart failure and stroke, as well as extreme psychiatric and psychological symptoms, such as chronic depression, hallucinations, according to an anti-meth Internet site operated by the Koch Crime Institute.

In Maine, detected users thus far include mainly gay males and truck drivers. Addiction has not yet spread to Maine children, but it’s coming there, too. So, what’s to be done? Lectures probably won’t help much. A better approach is to control the supply, watch for outbreaks, and get victims to treatment.

Anticipating an onslaught, the Maine attorney general’s office and drug enforcement and treatment officials are preparing a bill to prevent the manufacture of methamphetamine and control the sale of “precursors.” These are commercial products containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which can be converted into meth. Under the new law, these precursors would have to be sold from behind the counters of pharmacies, not by supermarkets or convenience stores.

Parents, teachers and employers are advised to watch for telltale signs of meth addiction. Among them are nervousness, nonstop talking, extreme moodiness and irritability, aggressiveness, loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities, and repetitious behavior such as picking at skin or pulling out hair.

If they spot a likely case, they should get onto it quickly. Treatment is harder than for most other drugs. Resistance is strong. Returns to addiction are frequent. Complete failures are many. We are in for a bad time, and the state is correct to prepare for it.