America’s Breadbasket: Crystal Meth

Writen by Esther Smith

Methamphetamine is an addictive drug made in home labs. When taken by mouth, snorted, injected or smoked, it produces intense pleasure by releasing excessive amounts of the brain’s reward chemical - dopamine. The euphoria that it produces is longer lasting than even cocaine, and meth users are reluctant to give up this highly addictive central-nervous-system stimulant.

As one addict explains, “Sex became an endurance sport I couldn’t get enough of — I felt great so much of the time I couldn’t even think of a downside.” If perfect euphoria is the ultimate self-indulgence, then meth can be labeled Chemical Masturbation.

It’s not enough that meth addicts lose brain cells but keep living happily ever after; it’s the wake they leave behind if they have been ‘cooking’ their own product.

We have property legislation regarding mold, and disclosure covering asbestos and radon, but only voluntary warnings concerning exposure to contaminants left behind after a meth lab has been dismantled. Home labs are vanishing, but not the meth! Some states like Oklahoma are voluntarily labeling ex-meth lab addresses, but for most unsuspecting home buyers this still holds a “buyer beware” sticker.

Property owners are warned to exercise caution and use the safest possible cleaning practices in dealing with a former meth lab residence as there is no guarantee that it is one hundred percent free of remaining contamination. Owners of apartments, mobile homes, sheds, garages, vehicles and even hotel/motels are at risk. Tenants move in, set up their lab because it doesn’t take any chemistry expertise to manufacture their own meth. Of the 32 chemicals that can be used in varying recipes, one-third is extremely toxic.

When they move on or the lab is closed by authorities, it takes a special team in moon suits and breathing equipment to cart off the chemicals and equipment. Even with these measures, there is no guarantee that the location will ever be fit to re-inhabit.
The owner is left with contamination of absorbent materials such as carpeting, drapes and ductwork which can accumulate vapors that are dispersed though the air during the cooking process. Further, are the waste products generated during meth manufacture. Some of these products are thrown along the sides of roads in or in neighboring back yards - but most are dumped down sinks, drains, and toilets. They contaminate sewer systems and are leached into streams and rivers.

The innocent victims of a meth lab are two: parents who are alcoholics or addicted to other drugs may keep their lives glued together for decades, but ice addicts rarely can. The “ice” children suffer neglect as well as undeserved beatings from parental addicts that are out of control. They play on carpets where meth residue is prevalent. Their bedding, clothing and the very air they breath is contaminated with meth; far more dangerous than second hand cigarette smoke.

The second innocent victim is the unsuspecting home buyer or renter who tries to live in an ex-meth lab home. It may begin with a burning in the respiratory tract, eyes, ears, or nose. Next comes severe burning of the hands and feet accompanied by nausea and sleeplessness. As a renter the answer is simple but the new home buyer is stuck with their mistake. If you want to live, your only choice is to hang the key and suffer the credit damage of a repo.

Even burning these buildings to the ground will not save the land on which the lab was operating. Ground contamination is still unmeasured, and it will take years to determine percentages that are supposedly “acceptable” to human occupation. What began in 1973 by mid-western bikers and truckers to stay awake on long journies, has now spread north to Oregon and east to Atlanta (now referred to as Meth City).

Looking back, one can study a nuclear contamination map and see areas that cannot be inhabited for years. It looks like spotty blemishes such as Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. A meth contamination map looks like measles. It’s becoming obvious that we cannot incarcerate our way out of this meth problem. Legislators in Washington, meanwhile, don’t seem very concerned. They prefer lining up to denounce the use of steroids in Major League Baseball.

2006 Esther Smith

Smith publishes two websites, http://thepermanentventure.com and http://cashoftheday.com as well as her weekly Newsletter and blog. She has written and published numerous articles.

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The Speed Narcotic

Writen by Kenneth C. Hoffman

When I was younger, driving fast was the irresistible medusa: Euphoria, eyeglazing thrills and day dreams of racing circuits. For every speeding ticket, I must have broken the speeding limits thousands of times. I was never so foolish as to try to outrun the police, but like an alcoholic, after a week’s righteous abstinence, the devil speed would take over my brain and I would fall to it’s siren song.

After losing my license, my driving would take on a surreptitious air, one eye peeled for the police colors, the other on the speedometer. Trips to the store were punctuated with heart pounding scares as I passed a parked police car, the empty spot in my wallet where my license had lived burning a hole in my head as I cruised the highway to work. One such stint of licenseless existence had me getting up one hour early to take the bus and train to work. Normally a trip of forty five minutes, the bus/train/bus route lasted two hours. I once walked ten miles on a terrifying super highway, cold grit blasting from the eighteen wheeled monsters, their horns scaring me silly.

Like being on the wagon, all the while avoiding friends, enduring family lectures, the exasperated looks answering requests for rides having little effect on my disease. Advice from well meaning friends to “Just don’t speed” had me agreeing whole heartedly on the surface, but denying the existence of that speed tumor inside. I guess the only way I could learn was the hard way. The never ending punishment finally got through to my brain, and I started to settle down.

Years later, married and responsible, an occasional radar trap would snare me unawares and remind me of my proclivity for speed. A police car at the bottom of a deserted section of hill, waiting like a trapdoor spider, speed limit signs politically lowered to a crawling number, aimed their radar guns, greased and ready. The courts provided no justice, the judges always siding with their own, dismissing any and all rational arguments. The answer, of course, was to find happiness in driving safely, smoothly fitting in with the traffic, arriving when you get there with the same new looking car you started out with.

Retired in NJ. Having fun writing and singing.

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Out-of-Control Habits

Writen by Michael Russell

Today, addiction and compulsive behavior of all kinds seem rampant. Many people are concerned not only with losing control over their use of alcohol and drugs, but over food, smoking, gambling, and even shopping. But what is the nature of addiction, and how do we explain its hold over certain individuals? Smoking-related illnesses, for example, kill more than 100 people a day in Canada, yet though warned of the hazards of smoking, nicotine addicts are frequently unable to kick the habit - despite numerous attempts. Or consider the alcoholics who trade away family and career rather than quit drinking.

Chocolate, exercise, coffee, work, sex, indeed almost everything these days has been labeled as being addictive. But when and how does simple experiment or indulgence spiral into a full-blown addiction?

The Nature of Addiction - One theory is that some addicts have abnormally low levels of some of the body’s naturally occurring neurochemicals which affect mood and behavior, and when the balance is tipped, an addicted person may try to compensate by ingesting a substance that produces the same, or a far more intense, feeling. In this light, addiction seems to stem from an effort to self-medicate. A user’s first attempts to medicate himself with drugs or other substances usually lies within his control. Gradually, however, he loses control, and choice becomes compulsion.

A disease? How does compulsive shopping, gambling, or other non-chemical addictions fit the self-medication model of addiction? Some experts believe that every addiction is a search for wholeness or inner peace, and compulsive behavior is yet another misguided attempt to fill an internal void. If this is true, then any effort to conquer an addiction must be accompanied by an exploration of what has created this feeling of incompleteness in the first place.

But Alcoholics Anonymous and other self-help groups with a similar approach argue that the substance itself creates the need. The important thing is absolute avoidance - a goal achieved through the group support of people with the same addictions, along with recognition of self-destructive behavior patterns, and assistance in overcoming them.

In fact, Alcoholics Anonymous (as well as many medical experts) consider addiction to be disease. The disease concept of alcoholism is an old one, the idea being that the individual is powerless over his or her drinking due to a biological vulnerability. This theory is now applied very broadly not just to alcoholism, but to every conceivable form of addictive or compulsive behavior.

Overwhelmed by Outside Forces - Some experts support the view that addiction is influenced by a external factors - that family environment plays a part, as do cultural norms, peer pressure, and other factors. Another view is social problems - for instance, the rising divorce rate. And still another group suggest that our over-reliance on drugs and medical technology to cure everything from bad breath to bad moods has made us too ready to try to “fix” every twinge and unpleasant feeling we experience.

Most experts agree that addicts need to do more than just kick their habits. For lasting recovery, they need to think about rebuilding their lives, to find meaning and motivation to move ahead. And all addicts need to learn how to enjoy life without their substance of choice.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Addictions

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