Rural America's dirty little secret

"There’s something going on in rural America that they don’t like to talk about. Crank. Speed. Meth. Yup, lots of folks out there in the heartland are speed freaks. They’re wired, hopped up, spun, tweakin’. . ."

http://davesbigbeef.blogspot.com/2005/03/rural-americas-dirty-little-secret.html

Republicans do not handle their loneliness, boredom, or fear very well - it's like bad acid to them. They freak out and look for someone (government, Jesus) to help save them; to give their life meaning. Maybe one day we'll be able to figure out a solution to this problem. I'd offer to smoke a joint with them, but they would likely rather arrest me than take me up on my offer of friendship. :shrug:

Strap them kids in
Give em a lil bit of vodka
in a cherry coke
were goin to oklahoma
to the family reunion
for the first time in years

its up at uncle slatons
cuz hes gettin on in years
no longer travels but hes
still pretty spry
hes not much on talk
and hes too mean to die

and they'll be comin down
from kansas and west arkansas
it'll be one big old party
like you've never saw

uncle slaton's got his texan pride
back in the thickets with his asian bride
hes got an airstream trailer and a
holstein cow
still makes whiskey cuz he still knows how
plays that chocktaw bingo every friday night

you know he had to leave texas but he won't say why
he owns a quarter section up by lake ufalla
caught a great big ol bluecat on a driftin jugline
sells his hardwood timber to the chippin mill
cooks that crystal meth cuz his shine don't sell

he cooks that crystal meth cuz his shine don't sell
you know he likes that money, he don't mind the smell

my cousin roscoe, slaton's oldest boy
from his second marraige up in illinois
hes raised in east st louis by his
mammas people where they do things different
thought he'd come on down
hes goin to dallas texas in a semi truck
caught from that big mcdonalds
you know that one thats built up on that
big old bridge across the will rogers turnpike
took the big cabin exit stopped and bought a carton of cigarrets
at that indian smoke shop with the big neon smoke rings
and the cherokee nations hittin the skogee late that night
somebody ran the stoplight at the shawnee bypass
roscoe tried to miss him but he didn't quite

bob and mae come up from
some little town way down by
lake taxoma where he coaches football
they were two-A champions for two years running
but he says they wont be this year
not they wont be this year
and he stopped off in tuska at the pop knife and gun place
bought a sks rifle and a couple full cases of that steel core ammo
with the beardam primers from some east bloc nation
that no longer needs em
and a desert eagle thats one great big old pistol
i mean fifty caliber made by bad-ass ebers
and some surplus tracers for that old BAR
at slatons as soon as it gets dark
were gonna have us a time
were gonna have us a time

ruth-anne and lynn come from baxter springs
thats one hell-raisin town way down in
southeastern kansas
got a biger bar next to the lingerie store
thats got rollin stones lips up there in
bright pink neon
and they're right downtown where everyone can see em
and they burn all night
you know they burn all night
they burn all night

Uncle slaton's got his texan pride
back in the thickets with his asian bride
hes got a corner pasture and an acre lots
he sells them owner financed strictly to them
its got no kind of credit
cause he knows they're slackers
and they'll miss that payment
and he'll take it back
plays that choctaw bingo
every friday night
he drinks his johnny walker
at that club 69

were gonna strap those kinds in
give em a lil bit of vinadryll
were gonna have us a time
were gonna have us a time

--James McMurtry

We also have the highest teen pregnancy rates!!!

highest rate of marriages, lowest rate of divorces, lowest rate of abortion, the second highest I.Q, and number 1 public education system NATIONALLY!

It's true!!!

Last year (or the year before, I forget), Oklahoma was #2 in production of crystal meth! (CA was #1 and beat OK by far!) The problem is so bad here that it is a chore to get certain medicine here that used to be OTC. You now have to go to the counter and sign for it, and you are only allowed a certain amount. The reason is because this area's economy is so poor that people turn to making this shit because they can turn quite a profit for VERY little investment; you make your own, sell it, and the profit is yours! A while back, it seemed as if a "meth lab" was exploding in OK every day! It was a mess.

Lakeside, Harbinson Canyon is where most of CA's meth is manufactured. Right under the Sheriff dept's noses,if you'll excuse the pun.

The only reason we haven't been is that we're organic, so not worth the effort, though our farm manager has caught several people poking around the barns and outbuildings. We just put in fences, security lights on the buildings and no trespassing signs.

One of the houses nearby was a lab until it exploded. It is now a hazmat site.

Meth is cheap, the high lasts, and it's an escape from the grind. The fact that it's an escape into hell doesn't factor in until the user is hooked.

Nasty shit.

Five years ago there was an explosion a week here in NM. They no longer blow themselves up as frequently, but they turn hotel rooms, apartments, trailers, and houses into really nasty hazmat sites. They've been known to discard trash bags of contaminated stuff at rest areas at great risk to garbage pickup crews.

THIS is why the drug war is so damned wrong. If the more benign drugs like grass and opiates and yes, regular refined cocaine were available, nobody would bother with dangerous bathtub drugs like meth but a very tiny minority, and their deterioration would act as a warning to everyone around them. The same goes for inhalants. Who'd gag over a cup of gasoline trying to get high if they could fire up a legal joint?

I remember the late 60s and early 70s when the drug scene was wide open. There was a very successful "speed kills" campaign, and meth use dropped way down. I didn't hear much about meth, in fact, until the late 80s when the drug war got too successful at stopping grass.

I agree. I live in the very affluent San Francisco Bay Area, which isn't even a majority white population, and I rarely see this phenomenon. However, when I lived in the less affluent Stanislaus County, it was rampant among the poor whites there. The local paper ran an article saying that some ridiculous percentage. like thirty eight percent, of mothers GIVING BIRTH, had crank in their systems.

Its on local TV news and newspapers constantly. To the point that the meth lab story has been blown out of proportion.

nothing like a few thousand heads full of meth to turn your state red in a hurry...

They ALWAYS have been! This isn't any kind of a surprise to those of us who've lived in the burbs all our lives. I STILL chose to live here as an adult. I like the peace and quiet, but because I know what REALLY goes on here, I have had lots of talks with my children about it.

I would venture to say the rates of addiction to ALL substances are higher, by far, than in the city.

We're not all bad here in the burbs, but there is definitely quite a few among us that have some serious problems. I always find it amusing to see the neighbors say something like "He was such a nice Christian guy, I NEVER would have guessed he was selling crystal meth and having sex with babies in his home!" PULEEZE! I've seen it, smelled it and KNOWN it is here for DECADES! If you choose to bury your head that far in the ground, you DESERVE to be shocked into a little reality from time to time!