Spencer Pratt’s “super meth” claim misleads voters

Clinicians say “super meth” is just standard P2P meth, and that the phrase is being used to stoke panic around homelessness and addiction rather than point to proven solutions.

When Spencer Pratt brings up “super meth,” it lands like a warning about something new, unstoppable, and uniquely dangerous. But clinicians who treat addiction and work with people experiencing homelessness say the label doesn’t match what’s happening in the real world.

Nicky Mehtani. an assistant professor in the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital. says P2P meth is nothing novel.. She told WIRED that it has been the dominant form in the US supply for the better part of a decade. and that she has “never heard it called ‘super meth’” in any clinical or scientific context.. “It’s just the meth we’ve all been seeing for years now.. There’s nothing novel or uniquely ‘super’ about it at this point.”

Mehtani argues that the bigger problem is what the soundbite does to the conversation.. Meth use disorder. she notes. is notoriously difficult to treat. in part because there are no FDA-approved pharmacotherapies. and “recovery is genuinely difficult.” But she says Pratt’s framing misses the reasons people experiencing homelessness often turn to stimulants.

“The most common reason I hear is functional,” Mehtani said. “People are using stimulants to stay awake, to maintain vigilance, to survive on the streets at a time of increasing criminalization of poverty and homelessness.”

By dubbing it “super meth,” she warns, the narrative turns a complex public health issue into a moral panic.. “Calling it ‘super meth’ obscures all of that and reduces a complex public health problem to a moral panic. which tends to push us toward punitive responses and away from the evidence-based interventions that actually help. ” Mehtani said.. She described the phrase as “classic War on Drugs language. ” adding that it is “vague. alarming. and not grounded in how clinicians or researchers actually talk about methamphetamine.”

Ryan Marino. an associate professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. says the “super meth” story is part of a wider pattern of political exaggeration and messaging about drugs and homelessness.. Marino points to Pratt’s past rhetoric. including calling homeless people “zombies. ” and says the claims follow the same playbook seen in recent years.

“Pratt seems to be trying to use the same right-wing drug lies as we have seen other politicians use in recent years. ” Marino said.. “They were lies at the time and which have actually led to worse outcomes.” He cited Oregon as one example. noting that recriminalization of possession of small amounts of drugs did not reduce homelessness in Portland. where more people remain unhoused than ever.. He also pointed to research from multiple cities showing a strong link between police drug busts of opioids and increased overdose deaths.

Marino added that Los Angeles isn’t clearly being made worse by stricter drug criminalization or partisan differences.. “Los Angeles is not suffering particularly worse from drug problems than places governed by Republicans or with stricter drug criminalization. ” he said. arguing that Pratt’s line about unhoused residents wanting drugs instead of beds contradicts the evidence.. “Drug use isn’t the reason for LA’s large unhoused population.”

He said that if Pratt were truly focused on reducing illicit drug use and homelessness. he would argue for measures that clinicians and researchers have tested instead of swapping in fear-based slogans.. Marino called for “evidence-based solutions like public education. drug checking facilities and supervised consumption centers. and regulation of the drug supply. ” along with “drug treatment. access to mental health care. and housing.”

In the race Pratt is currently running, the messaging appears built to perform rather than to solve.. Pratt is polling in second place behind Bass after months of demonizing the unhoused and mocking initiatives meant to help people recover from addiction.. The repeated “super meth” soundbite. Marino said. makes the crisis sound like something too powerful for civic or medical action to counter—exactly the kind of framing that shifts attention away from interventions that could actually change outcomes.

For Mehtani, the harm is in what the label invites voters to believe.. It encourages punishment instead of treatment, and it discourages the practical focus people need most.. And for Marino. it goes further: the point may be to convince Los Angeles voters that the city’s most vulnerable residents are a hopeless cause.

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