PBS’ documentary on the meth epidemic from the year 2011 was elaborate in showing how this drug is made and the effects of it. The meth epidemic is by far one of the greatest epidemics to ever hit the United States. Meth is likely one of the strongest drugs to be manufactured and the number of people addicted increase every year. This drug does more damage to the face and body before alcohol, marijuana, and even crack/cocaine. This documentary was served as informing piece about this epidemic.
There were a few overall messages in this film. As stated earlier, the main purpose of the film was to inform. This filmed talked of how the rate of meth addicts increased every single year. Meth was very popular in the state of Oregon and started to spread over the entire United States. Several people who get addicted to meth also suffer from other mental illnesses and resort to doing acts to obtain this drug. Most addicts portrayed in this documentary were also thieves, murderers and even dead beat parents.
The effects of meth are probably what are the scariest about this drug. Even though still a popular drug, meth as a whole started to decline in the year of 2007. One hit from meth can actually cause a full day of being high. Meth addict have been seen to have holes in their face, a severe increase in aging, missing teeth and are often seen as some the filthiest people around. Meth addicts are also known to suffer from chronic seizures. Not only does meth destroy your outer appearance, but also destroys a person’s morals. The people most affected by meth are regular common people, but mainly people from Oregon were the most affected because it started in Oregon.
According to policy makers, it seems as though meth is making a comeback. After its decline in 2007, in 2009 the use of meth had skyrocketed. The policies have shown that meth users and sellers are persecuted harder now than ever. The policies are trying to stop and prevent meth as a whole, but this has been proven to be very difficult. One of the main organizations associated with the meth epidemic is the Child Welfare Agency. In the state of Oregon, it was recorded that most of the children in the foster care were children of meth users. Even in other parts of the country it was shown to be the same results as Oregon.
As stated earlier the film “The Meth Epidemic” in summary, poses this question: No matter how advanced the system gets, will we never catch ever single meth user and supplier. It taught almost every aspect of meth, its effects, its users, and even the aftermaths. I learned a lot about meth and most of these facts I had never heard before. This documentary was a glimpse into the lives of not only meth addicts, also into the people trying to fight this epidemic. Even though we will never catch every meth addict, we will be able to catch most. This epidemic will probably never end, but hopefully we as a country with the policies we have, can combat this issue a lot better.
