Drugs Inc on NatGeo channel (Mexico, California: middle-class, how much, wages)

[gone-island]

National Geographic channel recently aired a 4 part mini series called Drugs Inc. They did stories on Pot, Cocaine, Heroin, and Meth.
It's a real eye opener! Everyone knows about the problems associated with illegal drugs but this really quantifies it and puts it in perspective.

Here's some of what I take away from the shows.

Smoking pot does not lead to harder drugs. In fact Amsterdam has 85% fewer hard drug overdoses than the US due to pot being readily available and somewhat socially accepted.

Pot smuggled from Mexico fuels the drug trade by bringing in over 60% of the drug cartel's money.

A large percentage of Cocaine and Heroin users turn to Meth due to its availability and cheaper cost. People now know how to "cook" it in a single soda bottle. They showed people caught with it "cooking" behind the seat of their truck.

SW Mo. has the largest percentage of Meth addicts. I would have guessed Detroit or somewhere in Jersey.

My question to you people living in SW Mo is why so many Meth addicts?
Why SW Mo??? Does Mo have strict pot laws or are the ingredients easier to obtain there? There must be a reason.

[cyrano]

I'm not an expert but I used to work in the criminal justice system in Missouri, including prosecution of pretty large-scale meth manufacturers throughout southern Missouri, not just southwest, and I'd talk to defendants and their families. The stories I kept hearing were a. my daddy and granddaddy were moonshiners and this is the 21st century version of moonshine; b. if I didn't cook meth (or grow weed-- a lot of weed is grown in some pretty sophisticated ways in Missouri), I'd lose the family farm; or c. how else am I supposed to support myself and my family? Also, southwest Missouri has pockets of poverty as bad as any place in the US, and unlike, say, Detroit, they've been poor there for generations. People often self-medicate to escape their situations, and meth is cheap.

Meth seemed to be so addictive that, for all I knew about how destructive it was, I came close to trying it more than once. It's supposed to improve sex and aid with weight loss (definitely the latter)-- I knew a couple of women who got hooked because they were desperate to lose weight. Well, they succeeded in that, along with losing some teeth and a couple years of their lives in prison. People use it here because people make it here.

The pot laws are no stricter than anywhere else, and in certain counties, if you grease the right palms, you can be a big-time grower and not worry about anyone but the feds. But on the other hand, the cops do love to bust small-time weed dealers and growers (and even users), because that's how they prove to the DEA that they're "anti-drug" and therefore entitled to more money.

[gone-island]

Thanks for that thoughtful reply. Makes sense I suppose.

So hard to imagine the percentages of addicts they were reporting. Sad!
There are no easy answers either.
Or are there?????

[GeekOfTheOzarks]

I lived in Oregon before moving here and they also claimed to have the biggest, baddest, most expensive drug problems, etc... I am inclined to believe that all states are (somewhat) fabricating their own statistics because local news about this stuff rarely travels to other states and local politicians just want their local taxpaying base to keep them flush with cash for various "programs". Too many Americans are ignorant about so many things, this just being one of many, many issues that we are willing to turn over the the "authorities" without asking so much as a single question about how big the problem really is or how all that money is being spent. I don't deny that drugs are a problem in our society but I sure am tired of hearing about one more "program" that takes money out of this taxpayer's pocket but puts nothing back in return, and no one is asking why.

[cyrano]

If you really want to depress yourself but really understand what the meth epidemic is about, read Methland. It's set in a town in Iowa that was torn apart by two related forces-- the way Big Agriculture relentlessly drove down wages in the meat-packing industry by replacing American citizens with illegal Mexicans THAT WERE ACTIVELY RECRUITED to come to the Midwest, and by the fact that, once people learned to replace hard-to-get ephedrine with easy-as-pie-to-get pseudoephedrine as the main ingredient to make meth, meth became ridiculously easy to make, and for years Big Pharma effectively prevented any attempts to restrict availability of pseudoephedrine...because it was wildly cheap for them to import from China and mark up dramatically as cold medicine. And in an area that used to be middle-class but quickly descended into slums, it was ripe for any sort of cheap drug...and meth is both wildly effective and very cheap.

It's kind of an object lesson, in one place, for so much that has gone wrong with America-- corporatism unchecked by any sense of national interest or common decency. If you think the free market, unfettered by regulation or morality, can govern itself, defend what's happened here. I'll wait.

[GeekOfTheOzarks]

Cyrano, I haven't read the book but think I will (I'm from Iowa) so thanks for the recommendation.
You hit the nail right on the head. History has shown us over and over that the free market is not to be trusted and absolutely needs to be regulated.

When I still lived in Iowa I was told, though I have no real proof, that the local meat-packing plant literally drove passenger vans to Mexican border towns and recruited workers to come to Iowa to work.

However they found their way to Iowa, it wasn't long before spray-painted graffiti started appearing all over town. Seeing that ugly graffiti on playground equipment, a wonderful old bridge and even on the walls of the city coliseum after having been away for a few years was a sad day for me.

Unfortunately at least one part of the story seems to be inconsistent with what I know about Iowa. Most of the small communities were not middle class when I lived in Iowa (20 years ago) and the majority have lost a significant portion of their tax base since then so they could not be considered middle class today by any stretch of the imagination.

However, while I can't speak for the people in Oelwein I do know that "an area that used to be middle-class but quickly descended into slums" is a gross exaggeration, in part because they were not middle-class in the first place and there are too many good, decent people living in Iowa to allow something this obscene to happen. While there may be some bits and pieces of the book that are true the author almost certainly stretches reality in a few places if that statement is any indication of how the author generally portrays the story.

I don't doubt that Oelwein had or maybe still has a "drug problem" but that's par for the course in every community in the USA today. However, the author admits in an interview "Over the course of 3 1⁄2 years, I was probably in Oelwein about 2 1⁄2 months" ... truly how close can you get to and how much can you really learn about a community when you spend so little actual time in it?

I plan to read the book but am definitely prepared for more than a little sensationalizing.

Here's the link to the interview if anyone is interested. How ironic that the Daily Iowan chose a title for their story that implies (at least to me) that their intent is adding more fuel to the fire rather than presenting balanced reporting.
Iowa meth town no myth - The Daily Iowan

[kapie9969]

I really think much of the anti-pot stuff is overblown. It isn't in the same league as hard drugs like meth and heroin. I have problems understanding why people cant make better decisions for themselves.Hasn't everyone while growing up heard that meth or heroin is really bad and addicting? Or that drinking too much or smoking cigarettes is bad for you? I never hear any politicians or leaders just asking folks to take personal responsibility for their lives and keep their act together.

[DeanGuitarist]

Originally Posted by cyrano

I'm not an expert but I used to work in the criminal justice system in Missouri, including prosecution of pretty large-scale meth manufacturers throughout southern Missouri, not just southwest, and I'd talk to defendants and their families. The stories I kept hearing were a. my daddy and granddaddy were moonshiners and this is the 21st century version of moonshine; b. if I didn't cook meth (or grow weed-- a lot of weed is grown in some pretty sophisticated ways in Missouri), I'd lose the family farm; or c. how else am I supposed to support myself and my family? Also, southwest Missouri has pockets of poverty as bad as any place in the US, and unlike, say, Detroit, they've been poor there for generations. People often self-medicate to escape their situations, and meth is cheap.

Meth seemed to be so addictive that, for all I knew about how destructive it was, I came close to trying it more than once. It's supposed to improve sex and aid with weight loss (definitely the latter)-- I knew a couple of women who got hooked because they were desperate to lose weight. Well, they succeeded in that, along with losing some teeth and a couple years of their lives in prison. People use it here because people make it here.

The pot laws are no stricter than anywhere else, and in certain counties, if you grease the right palms, you can be a big-time grower and not worry about anyone but the feds. But on the other hand, the cops do love to bust small-time weed dealers and growers (and even users), because that's how they prove to the DEA that they're "anti-drug" and therefore entitled to more money.

I just realized that this is a very old post.

Didn't Missouri decriminalize up to an ounce of marijuana? How is that being handled by authorities and the marijuana users?

[DeanGuitarist]

Originally Posted by kapie9969

I really think much of the anti-pot stuff is overblown. It isn't in the same league as hard drugs like meth and heroin. I have problems understanding why people cant make better decisions for themselves.Hasn't everyone while growing up heard that meth or heroin is really bad and addicting? Or that drinking too much or smoking cigarettes is bad for you? I never hear any politicians or leaders just asking folks to take personal responsibility for their lives and keep their act together.

Highly agree. Plus the government shouldn't have any say so what we put in our bodies. As long as it's responsible. Especially marijuana. But....alcohol is legal. DWIs, fatal wrecks, liver problems....

[Floorist]

Southwest Missouri is no longer considered the "meth capitol" of the US. That is now in S. California. But the meth problem is still bad. The ingredients are easy to get and most counties can't afford many law enforcement officers.