Extra Credit 2: "The Meth Epidemic" (1 hour)

 Brendan Forte

The Meth Epidemic

Summary

Have you ever heard the terms “speed, meth, or glass”? All of these terms are referring to the drug methamphetamine. This drug started along the West Coast in the 1970s by motorcycle gangs. Since then, it has spread all across the United States. It has become extremely dangerous, and destructive. In this documentary, The Meth Epidemic, the meth rampage in America is investigated. Frontline shows the effects, impact, difficulties and troubles that make the drug so dangerous.

Body

“The Meth Epidemic” explains the potential solutions to stopping the problems with methamphetamine. There are so many problems that come from the deadly drug and there are two specific things that have been tried to stop the crisis. The first thing attempted was to limit the sale of epherdrine, and pseudophedrine, which are two drugs found in cold medicines. The way they limit the sale is to have customers register at the counter, which limits the amount they could purchase in a period of time. This wasn’t successful because the White house and Congress exempted cold medication from the regulatory proposals.

The second attempt made was to regulate the attempt of the source of ingredients. The chemicals pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, sophisticated chemicals and can only be produced in only a handful of big legal laboratories, which makes it easy to track. In 1994, a customs agent discovered a large shipment of ephedrine on a plane traveling from India to Mexico. Over 18 months, there was enough of the chemical to produce 2 billion hits of meth.

Geography

            Methamphetamine started along the West Coast in California and Oregon but had quickly moved to the Midwest. The drug continued to move across the United States and eventually it reached the East Coast.  Originally, meth labs were only found in the west, but now they can even be found in the east coast from Maine to Florida. Although methamphetamine was once only affecting a small part of the United States, it is now affecting the country as a whole.

Economics

            Economic factors are a huge part of the meth epidemic. Everyone wants money. People make the dangerous drug and sell it to make a profit. It starts with one person and then more and more people start to get large amounts of it and sell to make money. People also need money to buy the supplies to make the drug. They go to stores and purchase all of the ingredients necessary.

Politics

            The government has made laws to try to stop the use of meth. They called for international control on epherdrine, and pseudophedrine to try to slow down the rate of methamphetamine being made. Unfortunately, this did not work. Their second attempt was to regulate the source of the drug. Since only a few amount of labs can make these highly sophisticated drugs,  they tried to limit the production but that too, was unsuccessful. The government cannot do much because people find ways to make the drugs illegally anyway.

Culture & Demography

            In our American culture, we are taught that drugs are illegal, and not right. Many people do not care what others say. The drug has spread across the United States and there is a large diverse population of daily users. People decide to try the drug once, and then they get addicted to the high. This documentary is a warning to show the negative affects it can have on an individual, or family. Regardless of what others think, death is still a consequence, and the danger of the drug is extreme.  

Conclusion

This documentary made it very clear that methamphetamine can do so many terrible things to people. It started as a small drug that only few people used on the West coast, but now it has spread across the United States, and many people suffer from the drug addiction. There have been attempts to limit the use of meth but they have not been very successful. In all, I have learned a lot about the meth epidemic and I hope that eventually there is a way to stop the large population of meth use.

Bibliography

Frontline, The Meth Epidemic. N.p., 2012. Web. Aired 17 May, 2011

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/