Anyone convicted of transporting or dealing in dextroamphetamine in the United States faces up to twenty years in prison and a hefty fine for a first offense. Repeat offenders face even stiffer penalties. In the United Kingdom, amphetamines are designated a class B drug under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. Possession carries a penalty of imprisonment for three months to five years, and dealing carries a sentence of six months to fourteen years, along with a possible fine.

Researchers are only beginning to understand how Methamphetamine acts in the brain and body. When they learn more about how Methamphetamine causes its effects, they may be able to develop treatments that prevent or reverse the damage this drug can cause.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death from injury—and the greatest single cause of all deaths for those between the agesof 1 and 34 in the United States. About half of all unintentional injuries occur during the course of motor vehicle accidents. It has been estimated that 7 percent of all crashes and 44 percent of fatal crashes involve alcohol use. The risk of a fatal crash is estimated to be from three to fifteen times higher for a drunk driver (one with a BAC of at least 0.10 to 100 milligrams of alcohol for each 100 milliliters of blood—the legal limit in most U.S. states) than for a nondrinking driver. Alcohol is more frequently present in fatal than in nonfatal crashes. About 25 to 35 percent of those drivers requiring ER care for injuries resulting from such crashes have a BAC of 0.10 or greater. Motorcyclists are at a greater risk of death than are automobile occupants, with up to 50 percent of fatally injured motorcyclists having a BAC of at least 0.10. Pedestrians killed or injured by motor vehicles are also more likely to have been drinking than those not involved in such accidents.

In July 2005 Purdue Pharma voluntarily recalled Palladone after reports surfaced that the drug could prove fatal if combined with alcohol. Although the company warned people not to use the drug with alcohol, it withdrew Palladone pending further investigation. Alcohol can affect the extended-release mechanism in the drug, causing the contents of the pill to be released rapidly rather than slowly. This dose dumping could prove fatal, hence the recall.

Initially, the Appalachia HIDTA was established to combat marijuana cultivation in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia - although that mission has expanded.

Small groups of long-term heroin addicts exist in West Virginia, who rely on each other to procure supplies of heroin from secondary source cities such as Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Methamphetamine distributors in West Virginia often share Mexican sources of supply with distributors in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley region.

Cocaine availability in West Virginia is limited to large-retail or small-wholesale quantities.

The Appalachia HIDTA provides support to enforcement initiatives in the southern region of West Virginia.

West Virginia is very mostly rural, hence the most pronounced drug problems involve the abuse and clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine, marijuana consumption and cultivation, and pharmaceutical drug diversion and abuse.