Sheff transferred to Berkeley and Charles moved up for summer school. They rented an apartment together. One evening, Charles reported that his drug dealer “had run out of cocaine. In its place, Charles had purchased crystal meth” (123). Sheff snorted a line and “felt fantastic—supremely confident, euphoric” (123). It was not until dawn that he began to feel “bleak, depleted, and agitated” (124). Sheff slept for a full day and never took meth again, but Charles’ “meth run lasted for two weeks” (124). His addiction worsened and soon “[h]is life was defined by his abuse of meth, cocaine, and other drugs” (124). He died “on the eve of his fortieth birthday” (124). 

Sheff now tries to learn as much about meth as he can. However, the more he learns, “the more discouraged I am. Meth appears to be the most malefic drug of them all” (125). He reports on the drug’s origin and early history, it’s classification as a controlled substance, and the great damage it has caused to communities and lives. He notes that the “most ubiquitous form on the mainland is crystal, which is often manufactured with such ingredients as decongestants and brake cleaner in what the DEA has called ‘Beavis and Butt-head’ labs in homes and garages” (128).