"The Faces of Meth"

OregonLive.com puts a human face on a growing national drug problem -- that's actually one of the most underreported drug epidemics of the 80s and 90s. Meth is only beginning to get major media attention. Meth -- sometimes called "Poor Man's Cocaine" -- has been a staple of rural America for decades now.

I first reported on it in 1989. Even then, it was the single largest drug problem on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border. Some counties reported more people addicted to it than to alcohol.

The Reynolds Wrap Test

Meth is "cooked" from a mixture of petroleum based liquids and other corosive chemicals. A "cooker," in describing the recipe for my producer at the time said the way to tell a really good batch was to throw in a roll of aluminum foil and -- if it was good -- the aluminum would dissolve in a day or so.

"Faces of Meth"

That helps you understand some of the changed faces in this Oregonlive.com feature. "Faces of Meth" shows mugshots of meth abusers -- in a "before" and "after" pattern. The wear and tear of toxic chemicals can be brutally pronounced in just a matter of weeks.

Slicing the Budget Pie To Thin

On a national scale, the meth problem has caused a drain on the War on Drugs. Money for that metaphorical war was originally meant to shut down gateways into the United States. It was meant to keep foreign drugs out. But cookers can crank out meth. And the midwest has seen meth production explode. So that has politicians slicing the drug war budget thinner to send money to their home states.

Citizens Against Government Waste issued a statement recently saying the slicing is so thin, that the money there's hardly enough to be effective anywhere. The budget originally meant for only 5 gateways when the War on Drugs started in 1989 is now split between 26 places.

Washington has spent $25 billion over 25 years in the War on Drugs. But prices of illegal drugs shipped in from other countries are at the lowest levels in years. A sign that the money's not put a dent in the supply flowing in.

And as the OregonLive.com images show, drugs made in the USA are putting a whole new face on the drug war. (OregonLive.com)

[Crossposted at BlogCritics.org]