Great Frontline the other night

[Bored]

The topic was the meth epidemic. I had no idea of the devastating impact the drug has had in Oregon and the western states. It's starting to become a focus now here in the midwest. Maddy's congressman Mark Souder was pretty funny when he basically called statements by the DEA underplaying the problem lies. Phils' state just passed a law (a similar one was defeated in Oregon) that puts psuedoephrine containing products behind the counter and requires persons buying them to register. A DEA agent suggested a similar federal law in 1986, but the law exempts cold medicine, which makes a ton of money for drug companies.

[REMgirl]

Was that the show featuring the "Before and After" photos of meth users? My god, that was sickening to see how devastated these addicts get! The photos showed the users prior to or early into their meth use, then showed them later with all the scabby sores, thinned out hair, sunken eyes and cheeks, missing teeth...they looked like walking corpses.

Pathetic.

[ohmikeodd]

The show online (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/view/)

[tobedawg]

thanks for the link ohmike

[Homsar]

That WAS a great show. Very important to spread the word. And, it told of how meth will eventually be eliminated, as long as countries can control the suppliers.

[shivvy]

I just happened to catch this on the High Def PBS feed last week. Didn't see the very beginning, but saw a good 45 minutes of it. It was really fascinating and really helped me understand what was going on. All I really knew about meth was the fact that I can't buy the same cold medicine I used to at the grocery without going back to the pharmacy counter. I was truly unaware of the widespread effects of this drug.

[twentyshots]

I didn't see it but there was a cover story a couple months ago in Newsweek. One of the craziest things was the volitility, amount of chemical burns/explosions in the meth labs. Hillbillies and science DO NOT mix.

[tobedawg]

I didn't see it but there was a cover story a couple months ago in Newsweek. One of the craziest things was the volitility, amount of chemical burns/explosions in the meth labs. Hillbillies and science DO NOT mix.
'
being someone who LIVES in an area badly affected by the Meth Epidemic (California's Central Valley), the meth labs are highly organized.. AND mostly illegal immigrants are hired to cook the meth in their homes.. AND they DO around the children, etc.. because the money is too good to pass up..

[twentyshots]

'
being someone who LIVES in an area badly affected by the Meth Epidemic (California's Central Valley), the meth labs are highly organized.. AND mostly illegal immigrants are hired to cook the meth in their homes.. AND they DO around the children, etc.. because the money is too good to pass up..

wow.
i guess what i was alluding to was the cooking that goes on in the hills and hollers (Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, etc). Conversely, it is somewhat surprising where the labs are turning up too. One was discovered near where my parents live, in a tiny shed 100 feet from a day care center.

[Shlep]

Meth has become a fact of life in East Tennessee. I've personally known several people I've met in the various jobs I've held in the past three years I've been here who were addicts and kicked (one girl I met while working a stint at Target told me she'd once stayed up 11 straight days tweaking). I can only imagine how many more there are who don't.

The cops around here have got their hands full trying to shut down meth labs, which is tough considering some versions of it (there is more than one type of meth, as the former connoissuers will tell you) can be brewed up in the trunk of a car while driving around. Other labs flourish in double-wides and apartments which, after being exposed to toxic fumes for so long, become impossible for the owners to rent again without lengthy and expensive refurbishing. Other labs are set up out in the rural areas (of which there are plenty around here) and some enterprising meth cookers have started setting up labs on small outcroppings of land along the waterways.

I, for the life of me, have no idea why anyone tries that shit to begin with.