[LINK] Crystal Meth

[rfmcdonald]

Over at his blog, Pearsall Helms writes about the crystal meth epidemic that has managed to become pandemic across large swathes of the United States. His essay, a very competent survey, becomes especially acute when he examines the question of why more people aren't talking about crystal meth.

[I]f poor urban blacks are feared, then poor rural whites are ignored, except for when they serve an unconnected political purpose, whether that is being sneered at by liberals for being backwards and racist, or lionized by conservatives for being the Realest of Real Americans. Drug-related crime and violence just isn't part of the prism through which they are viewed in America, and I think this shows in how little meth has broken through from real life into popular culture.