America's Most Dangerous Drug

[Karin]

It creates a potent, long-lasting high—until the user crashes and, too often, literally burns. How meth quietly marched across the country and up the socioeconomic ladder—and the wreckage it leaves in its wake. As law enforcement fights a losing battle on the ground, officials ask: are the Feds doing all they can to contain this epidemic?

By David J. Jefferson
Newsweek

Aug. 8, 2005 issue - The leafy Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge is the kind of place where people come to live the American dream in million-dollar homes on one-acre lots. Eight years ago Kimberly Fields and her husband, Todd, bought a ranch house here on a wooded lot beside a small lake, and before long they were parents, with two sons, a black Labrador and a Volvo in the drive. But somewhere along the way this blond mother with a college degree and a $100,000-a-year job as a sales rep for Apria Healthcare found something that mattered more: methamphetamine. The crystalline white drug quickly seduces those who snort, smoke or inject it with a euphoric rush of confidence, hyperalertness and sexiness that lasts for hours on end. And then it starts destroying lives…
read the rest of the article here…
msnbc.msn.com/id/8770112/site/newsweek/

 

[AmyS]

Karin:

It creates a potent, long-lasting high—until the user crashes and, too often, literally burns. How meth quietly marched across the country and up the socioeconomic ladder—and the wreckage it leaves in its wake. As law enforcement fights a losing battle on the ground, officials ask: are the Feds doing all they can to contain this epidemic?

By David J. Jefferson
Newsweek

Aug. 8, 2005 issue - The leafy Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge is the kind of place where people come to live the American dream in million-dollar homes on one-acre lots. Eight years ago Kimberly Fields and her husband, Todd, bought a ranch house here on a wooded lot beside a small lake, and before long they were parents, with two sons, a black Labrador and a Volvo in the drive. But somewhere along the way this blond mother with a college degree and a $100,000-a-year job as a sales rep for Apria Healthcare found something that mattered more: methamphetamine. The crystalline white drug quickly seduces those who snort, smoke or inject it with a euphoric rush of confidence, hyperalertness and sexiness that lasts for hours on end. And then it starts destroying lives…
read the rest of the article here…
msnbc.msn.com/id/8770112/site/newsweek/

I read an article about the same thing in People this weekend.

I went to and incredable training on Drug homes and the effects physically and emotionally they have on children. It amazed me what conditions these children where living in.

 

[vern_humphrey]

AmyS:

I read an article about the same thing in People this weekend.

I went to and incredable training on Drug homes and the effects physically and emotionally they have on children. It amazed me what conditions these children where living in.

Meth is all over the Ozarks. You can spot cookers – someone with two acres back in the hills, vicious guard dogs and “no tresspassing” paint on every tree.

Users are easy to spot – people who are obviously in their 20s and 30s and look 60 or older.

 

[HitF12]

We have huge meth problems here, and estacy.

I have to say, however, that the morning-after-pill is the most dangerous here. Because when you take it, it guarantees someone is going to die.

 

[thestickman]

vern humphrey:

Meth is all over the Ozarks. You can spot cookers – someone with two acres back in the hills, vicious guard dogs and “no tresspassing” paint on every tree.

Users are easy to spot – people who are obviously in their 20s and 30s and look 60 or older.

Last band I was in the lead singer decided to trash the wonderful gift God had given him by using that trash. What a waste

 

[vern_humphrey]

thestickman:

Last band I was in the lead singer decided to trash the wonderful gift God had given him by using that trash. What a waste

There’s a billboard up on US 65 in Arkansas that says, “Want a complete makeover?”

It shows a woman in her twenties before she started using meth and about five years later. What a waste, indeed!

 

[Snicker]

Drug use is surely a huge problem in the States but our draconain drug laws just don’t work-obviously. All drugs should be legal for anyone over 21 and all our efforts should be in prevention, education, and treatment.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Snicker:

Drug use is surely a huge problem in the States but our draconain drug laws just don’t work-obviously. All drugs should be legal for anyone over 21 and all our efforts should be in prevention, education, and treatment.

Drugs that are legal for those over 21 will be used by those under 21 – if our draconain drug laws just don’t work, how can we say, “well, they don’t work for those over 21, but they’ll work for those under 21?”

Young people can get hooked on some drugs with a single exposure.

And many drugs literally destroy those who use them – physically and mentally.

 

[mike182d]

Snicker:

Drug use is surely a huge problem in the States but our draconain drug laws just don’t work-obviously. All drugs should be legal for anyone over 21 and all our efforts should be in prevention, education, and treatment.

Obviously our sex offender laws don’t work. All sexual conduct should be legal for anyone over 21 and all our efforts should be in prevention, education, and treatment.

Doesn’t quite sound the same, does it?

 

[Snicker]

mike182d:

Obviously our sex offender laws don’t work. All sexual conduct should be legal for anyone over 21 and all our efforts should be in prevention, education, and treatment.

Doesn’t quite sound the same, does it?

Apples and Oranges

 

[Snicker]

vern humphrey:

Drugs that are legal for those over 21 will be used by those under 21 – if our draconain drug laws just don’t work, how can we say, “well, they don’t work for those over 21, but they’ll work for those under 21?”

Young people can get hooked on some drugs with a single exposure.

And many drugs literally destroy those who use them – physically and mentally.

True…but it makes no sense to throw drug users in jail.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Snicker:

True…but it makes no sense to throw drug users in jail.

What does make sense?

Answer me this, which is worth more, a kilo of horse manure or a kilo of cocain?

The horse manure is intrinsically worth more – you can grow vegetables with horse manure. Yet the cocain has a much higher price. Why is that?

Because of demand. Who creates demand? Users.

 

[Snicker]

vern humphrey:

What does make sense?

Answer me this, which is worth more, a kilo of horse manure or a kilo of cocain?

The horse manure is intrinsically worth more – you can grow vegetables with horse manure. Yet the cocain has a much higher price. Why is that?

Because of demand. Who creates demand? Users.

Preventive education and treatment. We’ve done a pretty good job of lessening the demand for tabacco, which is just as addictive if not more than other drugs. I’m been addicted to both so I speak from experience here.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Snicker:

Preventive education and treatment. We’ve done a pretty good job of lessening the demand for tabacco, which is just as addictive if not more than other drugs. I’m been addicted to both so I speak from experience here.

Actually, what we’ve “done for tobacco” is minimal. We still have far more users of tobacco than cocain, meth and heroin combined. That’s hardly a success.

Now, define “education” and “treatment.”

In Human Learning Theory, learning is considered to occur in three realms:

The Cognative Realm, which includes thinking, logic, math, language, and so on.

The Psycho-motor Realm, which includes throwing, riding a bicycle, and so on.

The Affective Realm, which includes emotions, values and so on.

You cannot “educate” someone to hit home runs by having them read books. Cognative strategies don’t work in the Psycho-motor Realm. You cannot “educate” someone to do math by having them shoot hoops. Psycho-motor strategies don’t work in the Cognative Realm.

If you wish to “educate” someone on drugs, you must use an Affective strategy – and that means shaming them, loweruing their status, and so on. Is that what you mean by “education?”

As for “treatment,” how do you expect to succeed if you sent the “cured” addict right back into the environment he came out of?

 

[Snicker]

vern humphrey:

Actually, what we’ve “done for tobacco” is minimal. We still have far more users of tobacco than cocain, meth and heroin combined. That’s hardly a success.

Now, define “education” and “treatment.”

In Human Learning Theory, learning is considered to occur in three realms:

The Cognative Realm, which includes thinking, logic, math, language, and so on.

The Psycho-motor Realm, which includes throwing, riding a bicycle, and so on.

The Affective Realm, which includes emotions, values and so on.

You cannot “educate” someone to hit home runs by having them read books. Cognative strategies don’t work in the Psycho-motor Realm. You cannot “educate” someone to do math by having them shoot hoops. Psycho-motor strategies don’t work in the Cognative Realm.

If you wish to “educate” someone on drugs, you must use an Affective strategy – and that means shaming them, loweruing their status, and so on. Is that what you mean by “education?”

As for “treatment,” how do you expect to succeed if you sent the “cured” addict right back into the environment he came out of?

Wow! So smart. All those big words. Since I don’t know what the heck you’re talking about, I can’t respond. But I can speak from experience. When I was 27 years old I was arrested for possession of cocain with intent to distribute. I was also an addict. I was sentenced to three years in federal prison. While in prison I received no treatment and when released, was still an addict. About two months out of prison my sister risked her life to drag me out of a crack house and take me to a treatment center (which conservatives would like to get rid of by the way). When I left the treatment center, I was clean and have been ever since. Treatment works, incarceration doesn’t. Americans like being tough instead of compassionate.

 

[Karin]

Snicker:

Wow! So smart. All those big words. Since I don’t know what the heck you’re talking about, I can’t respond. But I can speak from experience. When I was 27 years old I was arrested for possession of cocain with intent to distribute. I was also an addict. I was sentenced to three years in federal prison. While in prison I received no treatment and when released, was still an addict. About two months out of prison my sister risked her life to drag me out of a crack house and take me to a treatment center (which conservatives would like to get rid of by the way). When I left the treatment center, I was clean and have been ever since. Treatment works, incarceration doesn’t. Americans like being tough instead of compassionate.

First let me say…congratulations on over-coming your addiction and staying clean. I have to disagree with you on a point…yes treatment works but it does not work for everyone…so in the cases where it does not work what do you suggest?

 

[vern_humphrey]

Snicker:

Wow! So smart. All those big words. Since I don’t know what the heck you’re talking about, I can’t respond. But I can speak from experience. When I was 27 years old I was arrested for possession of cocain with intent to distribute. I was also an addict. I was sentenced to three years in federal prison. While in prison I received no treatment and when released, was still an addict. About two months out of prison my sister risked her life to drag me out of a crack house and take me to a treatment center (which conservatives would like to get rid of by the way). When I left the treatment center, I was clean and have been ever since. Treatment works, incarceration doesn’t. Americans like being tough instead of compassionate.

Let me see if I understand you. You are a convicted drug dealer and former addict? You have no college education?

But, having messed up your own life, and getting straight through the sacrifices and efforts of others, you are now qualified to tell everyone else how the country is run?

 

[thestickman]

Don’t break the law and you won’t find yourself incarcerated.

Tx works for those who want it to work and get better. Sadly some only decide they want Tx to work after they’ve been in prison. Some never want to get well and neither tx in or out of prison will make a difference.

 

[Snicker]

Karin:

First let me say…congratulations on over-coming your addiction and staying clean. I have to disagree with you on a point…yes treatment works but it does not work for everyone…so in the cases where it does not work what do you suggest?

Compassion and never never never giving up. Prisons are snake pits and drug users who have commited no other crimes have no business there. I realize solving the drug problem is a monumental task with no easy answers, but filling our jails with these people is idiotic.

 

[Snicker]

thestickman:

Don’t break the law and you won’t find yourself incarcerated.

Tx works for those who want it to work and get better. Sadly some only decide they want Tx to work after they’ve been in prison. Some never want to get well and neither tx in or out of prison will make a difference.

Spoken like a “man” who has probably never had to fight the demon of drug addiction. Your macho speak is nauseating.