Why is crank so popular in the hinterlands....

[WCGreen]

It seems as if there is some kind of epidemic out in the rural areas of this great land of ours....

I guess it's because you can make it from stuff you buy over the counter...

So tell me those of you who live in the hinterlands, that area beyond the exburbs, why in the hell would you want to stay up any longer than you had too......

Don't get it.....

NYT article on kids from rural areas whose parents are busted for selling or making crank...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/national/11meth.html?hp&ex=1121140800&en=96a3622163990d37&ei=5094&partner=homepage

<snip> "Meth adds this element of parents who think they are rocket scientists and want to cook these chemicals in the kitchen," said Yvonne Glick, a lawyer at the Department of Human Services in Oklahoma who works with the state's alliance for drug endangered children. "They're on the couch watching their stuff cook, and the kids are on the floor watching them."

The drug also produces a tremendous and long-lasting rush, with intense sexual desire. As a result of the sexual binges, some child welfare officials say, methamphetamine users are having more children. More young children are entering the foster system, often as newborns suffering from the effects of their mother's use of the drug. <snip>

Damn, This may be too heavy for the Lounge

[punpirate]

1. Cheap, with an intense high...

... and with a little brain damage on the side, for good measure, so one keeps using it without noticing the deleterious effects.

Ideal for the people whose awareness of the real world is already on the diminished side before they start using the drug.

In the meantime, the government is pumping out many millions of dollars in advertising trying to scare the shit out of people who smoke weed.

Probably the definition of institutional insanity.... *sigh*

[WCGreen]

4. When I was in to the drug thing, I never got that far

into the speed... Just some black beauties now and then when I had to stay away for something....

Deeper in the article they mention the intense sexuality that comes from crank....

But if it's anythng like coke, you can't perform all that well.....

So, I guess bongs and pot are the true enemy....

[NoSheep]

2. One way to escape the madness that is our reality.

:-(

[xmas74]

3. I used to work w/ people who used it (they were coworkers,

not patients). They started using it because they were working two and three jobs and needed a "boost" just to stay awake. Of course, it took more and more each time. Finally, they were addicted.
Many of them were parents who just needed the extra energy to work yet another job to pay for essentials to raise their children. It's really sad when you think about it.

[WCGreen]

5. That's really crappy

that people have to resort to drugs just to make enough money to get by....

[xmas74]

6. But more common than you think.

And it will get worse. Look at all the people out there making minimum wage. Some of them will look for two and three jobs just to get by (Read Nickle and Dimed-perfect examples of people doing just that). Sooner or later their bodies will wear down. They will either have to quit working so much and not be able to afford their gas bill (which the gas rate is going up this year in my area so I assume it is going up in other places too) or they will have to look for a "boost".
Others will see the allure of "cooking" as easy money. Even with the dangers of meth labs (and I've had a few calls) they'll overlook it, thinking it will never happen to them. They'll think about the money and what it can buy. They'll think about what they can get for their kids.
Eventually, the drug will take hold and they will no longer think about what they can do for their kids. They will only think about what they can do for the drug.
If we had a decent job market that offered living wages, easily obtainable job skills for all who are interested, universal health care (because some drug addiction is actually a form of self-medication for psychological problems and has nothing to do w/ being a "dirty addict") and so on we wouldn't have an epidemic of meth use in the MidWest. And it is at near epidemic levels. (MO states that it will bust an average of 7 labs daily. Since they only catch about 1 in 50 labs can you even imagine how many labs there really are out there?)
It's a social and governmental problem. Proof that our government is not protecting the citizens. And proof that our government has failed us.

[WCGreen]

7. well that's just terrible....

I've been drug free for years and I know part of the reason I was doing it was to self medicate....

But that's another story for another time.....

I thought this might be a little to serious for the Lounge but when I first saw the story, it made me think of the pot vs. meth (which is worse) debate that I could instigate with this...

But no. There hasn't been a real up tick in the Crank here in North East Ohio because it's so easy to get coke, and it's cheaper than when I was buying fifteen years ago. I wonder if this is a result of competition...

About six years ago, a huge crank lab exploded here in my home town, out on the outskirts. But that's about it around here....

I imagine the need for jobs in the rural areas has never really been addressed since the great migration to the cities after WWII.....

[xmas74]

8. The rural areas are dying off.

There are no real jobs (unless you count places like McDonalds and Walmart). People are depressed. They open their cupboards and find no food. They open their wallets and find no money. They compete against their old football buddies from high school for the one opening at the local factory that is bringing in illegal aliens to work for a fraction of what their fathers made doing the same job.

No wonder why drugs look so good.

[WCGreen]

9. Well, it's like that up here in the inner city and inner ring suburbs.

I guess the only place people are doing well is in the between are, sub and exurbia......

[xmas74]

10. Probably.

Even there some are having hard times and they are selling off property.
Rural areas are being hit hard. Some are consolidating schools, causing students to have to travel an hour or two by bus every day at very young ages. Others are losing doctors,causing citizens to travel upward of an hour just for a hospital. The young are leaving, trying to find a better life. And the towns just keep dying.
I've read posts on DU where they were making fun of rural areas, calling them racists or homophobic. I can tell you that most rural areas would welcome almost anyone who has a skill that is valuable to the community. It may take awhile for them to warm up to the person (mostly because they are not from the area) but they would eventually be considered a citizen of that town. Why? Because the old towns and the old ways of life are dying. And some of the posters on here don't understand that. If they went into the town and made an effort to be a productive member most of the townfolk would not care about the color of their skin, their gender or their sexual orientation. All they really care about is that their town does not disappear. And they really only worry about newcomers because they worry about what they will bring w/ them (usually they worry about drugs or crime).
Small town people are more tolerant than everyone gives them credit for. You will always have the bad apple but most don't really care.

[WCGreen]

11. I watched my mothers town die

Small coal town in Penn. It just died,

Of course there are people still there but no energy, no investment, just people waiting for god knows what.....

[xmas74]

12. They have no place else to go.

It's always been there. They don't know what to do.
I hate that rural America is dying out. I love living in rural America. It has become my home and I adore the small town friendliness and common values (work hard, treat your neighbors like you want to be treated, everyone helps out everyone else when they need the help).
If only we could get past the RR and RW talking points and bring it down to true values I think that most would want to live as ruralists do. It's just that the rural folk and the city folk don't realize how much they do have in common.

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

14. Ironic, when I saw this thread title, I thought of rural MO.

My ex husband's family is from a lilttle place between Ft. Leonard Wood and Lake of the Ozarks. I first 'saw' crank years ago when some of his family had issues.... now my ex is there and he does, too. It's a very poor community. This is the ONLY place I have ever heard of this stuff. Evil shit.

[xmas74]

15. MO has one of the highest rates of meth use and production

in the US. I live close to KC now but I used to live in Central MO (which has really high levels but most go unreported because of lack of funding for enforcement). I knew many "good" people who were struggling w/ the problem. As I said in a previous post, most of them started it as a boost of energy so that they could maintain working two or three jobs (since the economy is horrible, working multiple jobs is how they survive). And depression is rampant in these areas too (not being able to find a job or not able to get a good-paying job tends to make folks rather depressed) which furthers the use of drugs.
I know of too many people who have spent time in prison because of this drug. I've watched families being ripped apart because of meth. And yet, nothing is done about the circumstances that lead people into trying it. It's a sad commentary about how little respect our citizens are given, since most of them are honest people who would never have thought of trying meth.

[LynneSin]

13. It's the family value drug...

I've seen & read enough about crank to learn that the whole family gets involved with the drugs. Crank produces a high of invisiblity that they can perform their job longer and better and they even get their kids doing the drug.

BTW, there is fucking draino in crank - yeah, I wanna smoke shit like that.

Yet rural area makes a big stink about all the drugs & crime in the city. Maybe they should be looking at their next door neighbor who has a crank lab that could blow up the entire neighborhood.