Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Methamphetamine America
It seems fair to say that drugs in America come in cycles, and as always history repeats itself. In the 70's and 80's America suffered from a huge Cocaine problem, just as with any prohibition more harm is done than good. During prohibition of Alcohol, crime skyrocketed and more people were drinking then before; on top of that other countries benefited greatly economically. Other countries made the booze and we were responsible to drink it, which we did gladly. The prohibition was dropped and alcohol consumption went down with it.
The 60's saw a new birth of narcotic use in America, where just about every drug under the sun was being consumed. Most drugs, like hallucinogens, fell by the wayside; Cocaine use by the 70's and 80's took off with force. Columbia reaped the benefits as they were responsible for producing most of the Cocaine. Our drug addictions fed their economy. Our government by the early 90's found a way to curb the Cocaine problem by burning the Coca fields in Columbia. The price of Cocaine jumped thru the roof; only the rich could afford Cocaine.
As we all know, drug addiction is not simply a rich man's affliction. The poor had to find a way to replace the cocaine. Let's keep in mind that some of the cleverest people are addicts. During WWII soldiers were given amphetamines to help them stay awake and alert. By the 50's and 60's, amphetamine transformed into methamphetamine: a stronger, more potent and intense drug; this was prescribed to people for depression and weight loss. In the last two decades America has seen a snowball of methamphetamine related problems; the drop in cocaine use saw the birth of American Meth labs.
The government project became the removal the labs from our country, which by no means was an easy feat. However, the fact that they capped the production of Meth did not stop the amount of Meth use in America. The drop of Meth production caused the drug to flood across the border from Mexico. There has always been well established drug mule trails, the same trails that heroin and cocaine make it across; so it seems once again we have made it possible for drug cartels in other countries, those who have less strict drug laws, to produce and get rich off of our countries heartache.
America spends more money trying to stop the production of drugs then it does trying to educate people as to what is really at stake. It should be very clear by now that production is inevitable, also the fact that people are very attracted to that which they are not supposed to do. I am not implying that we legalize drugs like methamphetamine. The only education that kids today get is through DARE, Drug Abuse Resistance Education; whose feeble attempts, in my opinion, have fueled the fire of drug abuse. DARE is so "G" rated that its effects have been nil, America has to stop sugarcoating drug addiction; the time has come for us as a people to get honest with ourselves.
The State of Montana has taken the initiative and smashed the walls surrounding Meth addiction. Thomas Siebal (Montana Meth Project: http://www.montanameth.org/), a software billionaire, funded the creation of several methamphetamine ads. These ads are very graphic, yet they portray the perils of Meth use like nothing ever seen before. These ads seem to be responsible for the recent drop in Meth use in the state of Montana. It saddens me that these ads came to be by a private investor and not our government. The government's hand in all this was to make sure these ads were not shown before 7:00 pm. It makes me wonder how much the government cares about the damage of Meth production or rather that they can not make any money off of it. Addicts make up the majority of inmates in our jails and prisons, even though its is clear by now, that being locked up helps little, if any, towards curbing continued drug use.
Today there are many drug treatment programs, they are charged with planting a seed of recovery; it has been proven that without a foundation, the odds of staying sober dramatically decrease. The government has taken a stab at creating their own programs and suggests that if you have the money to pay for treatment that it will suffice as an alternative to going to jail.
All I know is that there are alternatives to the continued destruction of one's life. I also know that without the help of the government and other organizations like the Montana Meth Project, continued success will be very difficult. We can't stop the production of Meth any more than we can of Alcohol; however, we can change people's perception of how drugs will affect lives.
Daniel Helfand
http://www.webconsuls.com
dan@webconsuls.com
Labels: Meth, Methamphetamine
