The dramatic story of the methamphetamine epidemic as it sweeps the American heartland a timely, moving, very human account of one community s attempt to battle its way to a brighter future.
Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. As if this weren t enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, longlasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Over a period of four years, journalist Nick Reding brings us into the heart of Oelwein through a cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose caseload is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime; and Jeff Rohrick, a meth addict, still trying to kick the habit after twenty years. Tracing the connections between the lives touched by the drug and the global forces that set the stage for the epidemic, Methland offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy.
This book is full of false information. Mainly in the depiction of the small town Oelwein.
Reding makes this town sound dilapidated and on the brink of collapse, which is SO far from being true. It's actually a really nice town with a lot of good people. All of these abandoned houses that are burnt up from meth kitchens that exploded don't exist. The teachers aren't afraid of their students. Cops patrolling the school's halls with drug dogs is not an every day occurrence. These kids that ride around on bikes like gangs? Those are just kids riding their bikes. He makes this town sound completely outdated and that they shun big business, when this is a town that had the high school marching band play at the grand opening of a McDonald's. 7 out of 10 children live in poverty? Where did this "fact" come from?
Personally I think that this book does more harm than good for this town. This is a town that is being revitalized and has attracted many new folks to the area who want the small town life to raise their families. Methland makes this place sound like it's a scary wasteland, which is so far from the truth.
I took a look at the reviews for Reding's other book, Last Cowboys. It seems that exaggeration and misinformation is the author's trademark, which isn't what I like to see in a supposed non-fiction writer. If your looking for a good read, check out the Harry Potter series. A magical tale of witches and wizards is better example of reality than Reding's depiction of small town Iowa.
Everyone has heard of the meth epidemic; its scary effects on human life and the social fabric have been in the papers and on the news nationwide for what seems like a very long time. As meth gained a high public profile, many people have looked at the isolated elements of what we now call the drug wars. What we haven't had is any insight into how meth came to occupy a central place in so many lives and so many towns. More than a description of how bad it all is, this book attempts something much more ambitious: explaining how the political and social dynamics work to make meth what it is. Reding's argument of how the intersection of Big Pharma, Big Agra, mis-directed governmental action (and inaction), labor economics, sociology, and human greed brought us to this dangerous place is laid out against a narrative about a real town and its all-too-real people. Reding has a journalist's soul and he writes like a novelist. While there are several heroic characters in Oelwein, not everyone in the story is admirable; however, he respect their humanity and has a certain sympathy for the mesh they are caught in. The final section, which is about why this matters to us and how we can think about it, is nuanced and layered--there are no easy answers but there are some important ways we can think about it as we move forward.
"Methland" tells at least four important stories simultaneously - 1)How a small Iowa town (Oelwin) went from prosperous to an economic basket-case and back, while becoming first infested with local meth labs and then free of their scourge. 2)How illegals from Mexico are vaporizing well-paying jobs that American natives formerly filled. 3)Why America's "War on Drugs" is a farce. 4)Life, as experienced by several key players in Oelwin's experience with drugs.
By May, 2005, Reding reports that half the buildings on Oelwin's main street stood vacant, foot traffic was practically non-existent, seven in ten children lived below the poverty line, burned-out homes of former meth labs dotted the town, and the high school principal was arranging for police to patrol the halls with a drug-sniffing dog. (As a cross-country truck driver with a penchant for off-route travel, I can attest to the sad economic plight of most small towns.)
Iowans saw 1,370 meth labs seized in 2004, up from 321 in 1998, and Nathan Lein, Asst. Co. Attorney, estimated 95% of his cases were related to drugs (including a 3-year left alone for a week to take care of his younger sibling). Reding follows Roland Jarvis, a worker at the meat plant, who had seen wages fall from $18/hour with benefits (1992) to $6.20/hour, without benefits as the plant was sold (closed in 2006 - the number of workers had dropped from 800 to 99) and populated by illegals often solicited in Mexico by offers of two months free rent (up to 22 in a two-bedroom home).
Roland Jarvis began using meth to fuel 16-hour work days at the meat plant trying to establish a nest egg for a new family, and progressed to setting up his own meth lab as wages fell. A meth-cooking accident created a fire that burned his mother's home down, hospitalized Jarvis for three months, and disfigured him for life (lost his nose, much of his skin melted, his fingers became nubs). Yet, despite repeated trips to prison by both Jarvis (7 out of the last 10 years) and his mother, four heart attacks, a child requiring a kidney transplant because of maternal meth abuse during pregnancy, and almost no remaining teeth, Roland continued to use meth throughout the span of the book.
Reding also meets Lori Arnold (Tom's sister), who starts as a runner for illicit meth prescription users in Ottumwa, and progresses to manufacturing her own meth while buying a bar, car dealership, 14 homes and a 144-acre horse farm to hide and facilitate operations. Imprisoned for 8 years, she too is unable to break the habit - though the local $7/hour work alternative without benefits at the meat plant wearing a 50-lb. protective suit in near-freezing temperatures didn't help either.
The New York Times reported in 2001 that 40% of agricultural workers were illegals. (Imagine what it is now.)
Ultimately, the mayor's (upgrade sewers and roads to attract new businesses), prosecutor's, and police chief's (stop almost everything that moved in an effort to check for drugs) efforts were followed by new jobs in town, and the elimination of area meth labs. (The police chief was Jarvis' class-mate in high-school. Lein, the county prosecutor, grew up nearby and still went home weekends to help his parents farm.)
At about the same time, Washington passed new legislation making it more difficult to acquire pseudoephedrine, and our national drug czar declared victory. The bad news was that violent Mexican gangs then took over the manufacture and distribution of meth.
The really bad news is that it doesn't take much imagination to suspect that Oelwin's experiences were repeated nationwide. Readers are left wondering, "What makes meth so attractive?" Reding senses that economic despair is a factor, though not the only one (Jarvis started when he was making good money). Inquiries from experts supports a conclusion that meth makes a user feel good and lasts long (about 12 hours, though the effect becomes less with repeated use), heightens and prolongs sex, and provides sustained energy. Meth also presents attractive opportunities to those with an entrepreneurial bent - eg. Lori Arnold.
Finally, "Why does the U.S. have the world's biggest drug problem, and why don't all our high-paid educated university professors with time off for research come up with useful answers?" Irving Kristol, in a 6/14/09 column, reports cocaine usage is now 5X that in 1914 when it was legal; meanwhile the number incarcerated has boomed to 5X the world average (from rough parity) since the "War on Drugs" began.
