Home on the Meth Lab

The news threads are reporting a resurgence in the manufacture, sale, and use of Methamphetamine. I personally feel that there has been no resurgence — with the frequency pretty much remaining fairly high across recent history.
 

Methamphetamine has been rampant in my home county for years now. There are stupendous spreads of rows and columns of mug shots featured in the local newspaper ... mentioning the busts of meth kitchens, 60 arrests, and a veritable plethora of fugly individuals who should take a look in the mirror and understand what meth is doing to them.

It's not bad enough that cooking methamphetamine presents hazards in the form of toxic pollution requiring industrial cleanup methods coupled with the real and present danger of the effects of repeated volatile inhalants plus the possibility for violent explosion ... there are also those effects the drug imparts to the user before, during, and after exposure.

Mug shots in particular are typically dramatic in that you could tell those individuals with more lengthy histories of drug use compared to others who were 'newbies' in the drug culture.

The addictive nature of the drug is why the manufacture operations are so prevalent ... and obviously the craving for the drug tends to make an addict oblivious to the obvious detrimental effects it has upon them. It appears to leech from their pores and addict complexions are the most striking hit of meth use. Then there is a general disheveled appearance with diminished hygienic maintenance and the dull blank stare many display as well. Others look intensely angry in their throes of withdrawal — for one thing incarceration does for them is keep them away from the drug.
 

Personally, I don't think you can really call it a "drug" either. This is a toxic chemical admixture created by amateurs for morons such as themselves. It would never be for me and I am sorry for all of them. Based on physical appearances in the aforementioned mug shots draped across the front page of the local newspaper, jail has been the best thing to happen to a number of them for a long time.

Seems that the dreaded 'downward spiral' takes many forms these days ... I'm having problems coming to terms with all the things which presently pass for recreational drugs. Bath salts or methamphetamine cooked up by some unscientific goon in a kitchen or living room somewhere with questionable equipment and methods -- and all kinds of dirt, adulterants, insects and vermin -- simply doesn't conjure up such visions in my little brain of an ex-head long ago ... and the people continue to ingest these substances regardless of what it does to them as a result.

Having given up all recreational drugs some thirty years back I consider myself fortunate to have missed the entirety of the meth epidemic for it is truly a horrific site to behold from the standpoint of those users caught and made to answer to the law.