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I grew up out in the rural parts of Alabama...and recently returned for a vacation. Meth is now in every corner of that county. Out of 60,000 residents...there are at least 1,500 people on meth and it continues to climb. I stood in a gas station, and the attendent was a meth-user...barely able to comprehend the amount of gas I pumped or how much cash he ought to hand back to me. The locals are all in a fury about this whole thing and the cops bust an occassional lab...but its a lost cause. For every lab they take down, they have to cough up $7k for a toxic waste team to come out and clean up the lab...all of which must come out of the county funds system. When they convict the guy, they never get the $7k back. Just 8 of the lab busts are enough to wipe out planned budget for each year.

When you look at the folks who get into the meth business...they all start out living and working like normal, and they all eventually have to move into house trailers or houses with their meth partners. Disagreements are commonplace within these living arrangements and assault or murder is becoming the norm for folks living in this atmosphere.

The best story I saw...was a 45-year old woman, mother of five kids, who became a meth user. She eventually attempted to kill her husband (slicing his throat while he was reclining on his easy chair)...and he later forgave her as she admitted her problem and allowed her back into the house (something a guy should never do). She stayed off meth for 3 weeks...and then went right back to the same crowd. After dealing with her for two years, the husband finally kicked her out. She comes over and visits the kids once a week, under supervision...but is still on meth and is really starting to show her age now. It is very doubtful that she will make it to 50. And the kids just look at her...a walking corpse.

Forget the drug war in Colombia...stop the worry about import of hard drugs...you have meth, and it will eventually desroy the heartland of America. If we were ever to "move heaven and earth"...now is the time to fix a problem before it becomes a major factor in American life.

It is like that all over America.

In Salem Oregon a news story went through a neighborhood showing all the boarded up homes, meth labs. Pathetic.

Even my dear and oldest friend whom I have known her son since he was 5yrs old is on probation for meth problems and he stole thousands from mommy while she worked trusting him with her ATM card. Sad.

My son grew up without a father because I refused to be invovled with a druggee. My son's Dad is clean 10yrs now but the mental brain damage that stuff did will never improve.