While American society is used to seeing government efforts against marijuana and cocaine, they may be neglecting an important fight against the most addictive illegal drug in the United States- methamphetamine or meth. Director Mitch Wilson and writer and producer Carl Byker’s 2006 documentary, The Meth Epidemic, highlights the specific issues of the destructiveness of meth on users, their families, and their communities, Oregon’s approach to its meth problem, and the struggle of law enforcement agencies with pharmaceutical companies that resist the strict regulation of the basic ingredients used to cook meth. The overall message of the film is that the Oregon solution to meth addiction is effective because it stops meth manufacturers from
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Steve Suo, a reporter of The Oregonian, studied the history of meth production and the law enforcement agencies’ efforts to stop it. He noted how meth manufacturers shifted from buying bulk raw materials from drug suppliers to “smurfing” or buying small batches of cold medicine from drug stores (Meth Epidemic). These basic raw materials are “ephedrine, or its cousin, pseudoephedrine,” which are in many cold medicines. Gene Haislip, former Head of Chemical Control of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), started a novel approach in resolving drug epidemics. This approach involved “chemical control laws.” Getting the right amount of certain chemicals increased the purity of meth (Meth Epidemic). With lesser chemicals, Suo found out that meth addiction decreased and more meth addicts are able to fully recover from their addiction (Meth Epidemic). The Oregon solution includes both preventing these basic ingredients from falling into the hands of meth manufacturers and treating meth addicts (Meth Epidemic). Controlling these chemicals is difficult, however, because pharmaceutical firms make $3 billion from cold medicine (Meth Epidemic). Steven …show more content…
Some of the achievements of Congress are mandating that cold medicines that have pseudoephedrine should be sold behind pharmacy counters and that, because of this mandate, a number of states are limiting the sales of colds medicine to three boxes to consumers (Meth Epidemic). The main weakness of this chemical-control-law approach is that it does not examine and resolve the environmental causes and antecedents of drug addiction. The Oregon solution is too focused on the supply side that it neglects the demand side. The film lacks in presenting the alternative perspective that a long-term solution is a social solution that combines health care, community, and family-level solutions with legislative and law enforcement actions. Despite this omission, the film shows the role of lawmaking in helping resolve drug problems. It only needs to get a step closer to more holistic solutions that do not only impede drug production, but also prevents the social development of broken souls who get involved in drug
Steve Suo, a reporter of The Oregonian, studied the history of meth production and the law enforcement agencies’ efforts to stop it. He noted how meth manufacturers shifted from buying bulk raw materials from drug suppliers to “smurfing” or buying small batches of cold medicine from drug stores (Meth Epidemic). These basic raw materials are “ephedrine, or its cousin, pseudoephedrine,” which are in many cold medicines. Gene Haislip, former Head of Chemical Control of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), started a novel approach in resolving drug epidemics. This approach involved “chemical control laws.” Getting the right amount of certain chemicals increased the purity of meth (Meth Epidemic). With lesser chemicals, Suo found out that meth addiction decreased and more meth addicts are able to fully recover from their addiction (Meth Epidemic). The Oregon solution includes both preventing these basic ingredients from falling into the hands of meth manufacturers and treating meth addicts (Meth Epidemic). Controlling these chemicals is difficult, however, because pharmaceutical firms make $3 billion from cold medicine (Meth Epidemic). Steven …show more content…
Some of the achievements of Congress are mandating that cold medicines that have pseudoephedrine should be sold behind pharmacy counters and that, because of this mandate, a number of states are limiting the sales of colds medicine to three boxes to consumers (Meth Epidemic). The main weakness of this chemical-control-law approach is that it does not examine and resolve the environmental causes and antecedents of drug addiction. The Oregon solution is too focused on the supply side that it neglects the demand side. The film lacks in presenting the alternative perspective that a long-term solution is a social solution that combines health care, community, and family-level solutions with legislative and law enforcement actions. Despite this omission, the film shows the role of lawmaking in helping resolve drug problems. It only needs to get a step closer to more holistic solutions that do not only impede drug production, but also prevents the social development of broken souls who get involved in drug