A Great Correlation Between Wage Cuts And The Emerging Growth Of Meth

Most criminological research focuses on communities, where some assume and think that small towns are quite safe and crime-free environments. Meanwhile, using methamphetamine has become surrounded in rural parts of the country. In her book Methamphetamine: A Love Story, Rashi K. Shukla focused and enlightened on the understudied of poverty and drug abuse. Through her journey, she proves emotionally how meth has become the spotlight to the lives of some residents. In the process of uncovering how and why she participated in their drug using careers, Shukla tells how the lifestyle surrounding meth use becomes as addicting as the drug itself and highlights the unsustainability of meth addiction and the struggles

Lee D. Hoffer’s “Junkie Business: The Evolution and Operation of a Heroin Dealing Network” is an ethnography that details the buying and dealing of the highly addictive drug, heroin, in the particularly homeless area of Denver, Colorado called “Larimer” from 1995 to the year 2000. The majority of the book focuses on the partnership of two heroin dealers, Kurt and Danny, and examines their daily lifestyles and the transitional periods they faced during their operations. On a much broader level, Hoffer wanted to characterize the heroin dealing occurring on the consumer-oriented side of the heroin dealing business, as well as understand the evolution of Kurt and Danny’s operations. Hoffer’s virtually unlimited

The Meth Epidemic was a time where an abundance of individuals across the United States was exposed to meth. It became an addiction that could not be stopped. Higher officials done everything they could to stop it but meth always found its way to others. Unfortunately, this has affected society because of the high crime rate it has caused. Hence, their addiction has caused them to make decisions that has affected society and causing others to make serious decisions.

Chapter 3, “A Community of Addicted Bodies”, traces how physical and emotional dependence on heroin creates a social hierarchy within the

The first salient point was based on Norcross (n.d.) explaining that finding out and recognizing where the consumer thinks he/she is within the process of change. Asking questions of intention, where do they see themselves, and drawing a working model to show them their actuate stage of change (Norcross, j. c., n.d.). The second salient point was based on the Fair Sentencing Act for mandatory minimum sentences. Over two decades ago people were given longer jail/prison sentences because the belief was that crack cocaine was more harmful to people and community than powder cocaine. These “disparity fell disproportionately” on minorities, especially black people. Furthermore, with the aid of “both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama urging reform,” finally a new law that reduces mandatory minimums is active (American Civil Liberties Union, 2010, para 4). The third salient point is based on eliminating government involvement in substance issues at the state level. Ron Paul expressed that he would “Allow states to deal with such problems.” If states were to manage control over drugs and

The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids’ campaign for The Meth Project- Meth: Not Even Once “was founded in 2005 by the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation, in response to the growing Meth epidemic in the U.S. Today, the Meth Project is a program of the national nonprofit organization The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. The Meth Project is a large-scale prevention program aimed at reducing Meth use through public service messaging, public policy, and community outreach. Central to the program is a research-based marketing campaign, community action programs, and an in-school lesson all designed to communicate the risks of Meth use” (http://www.methproject.org/about).

Seymour M. Lipset2 contends that negative traits that plague the American landscape, such as “high crime and economic inequality”, are fundamental characteristics of and are inherently linked to a capitalistic and openly admirable democratic society. Not only does American history reside in the nature for “disdain of authority”, but current American norms signal that everyone must elevate their own status and rise above the ranks, both economically and socially. In analyzing the trends of high crime, acts such as theft, narcotics production and distribution, fraud, etc. are a means to

outside suppliers and distributers, local meth “cooks,” and customers – i.e. addicts. In the book

Residents who come from low income levels are more likely to agree that “Drug dealing can be a good way for people to raise themselves out of poverty” (Wallisch and Spence, 2006, p. 296). Although most residents are aware that drug trafficking is connected with corruption and violence, their economic deprivation has created community norms that tolerate the economic advantages brought by drug trafficking. Individuals who chose to be drug users are more aware of the availability of drugs and chose to live in neighborhoods of higher drug

The Ozark culture shown in the book is a very low class, poor group of people that use meth as a reliable way of getting money. After some research, I learned that is not a true definition of how the people of Ozark lived. They are a very religious area that has kept its cultural identity mostly intact despite the fact that most everyone now has cable TV, and phones. Poverty is defined by the amount of money or expensive things people have, but in the Ozarks, even though they may not have many thing, not many people define themselves as poor nor do they partake of the meth making. Although the book was focused on one family that could have been very poor and had no money, Woodrell made the readers think the whole town was like that. There is

Since the beginning of time people have been using all kinds of substances to make them feel liberated. Alcohol and marijuana are consumed every day in America by teenagers to elderly people; there is no set range on who consumes these drugs. Despite efforts from imposed laws: people feel the need to consume these substances and encage in behaviors out of the ordinary. Drugs and alcohol are used in the story “Cathedral” but also they are used in Raymond Carver’s personal life.

Critics argue that legalization of certain drugs will not end the drug war and that instead, it will cause more violence and issues for the county’s well being. In the mid-1980’s the cocaine epidemic hit and a large amount of crime, deaths from overdoses and violence came with it. The result of this was laws being placed with minimum punishment for drug trafficking to attempt to control the issue. Throughout the early 1990s crime started to slowly decrease and in 2013 the amount of crime was reduced in half. One viewpoint is that once the title of being non-violent labeled drug traffickers crime started to rise anew. Some crimes included murders of innocent bystanders and more drug flow into the U.S (Cook1). William J. Bennett and John P. Walters, Boston Globe writers, complicate matters further when they write “For 25 years before President Obama, U.S policy confronted drug

Today’s world is changing at a rapid pace. Things never thought to be possible are becoming very real. One of the popular subjects of wanting change is the legalization of drugs. There has already been a small amount of change in the drug legalization process with marijuana now being legal in a few of the states. Vanessa Baird in her work “Legalize Drugs- all of them!” argues for the legalization and decriminalization of drugs. John P. Walters counters Baird’s argument for legalization in his piece “Don’t Legalize Drugs.” Both authors take an extended look into the harsh reality of the drug war and the small progress it has made since it began.

The United States is not immune to the worldwide drug addiction epidemic. Drugs pour in from Mexico daily, then distributed to throughout the country. The economic crisis in America is creating an excuse for drug use (e.g., depression, hopelessness). This chemical fix not only creates problems for the addict, but the family and community as well. Every addict has an enabler, a person who makes the addiction possible through various venues of support (e.g., financial, denial). Addicts are only concerned with their next fix and will resort to any means to obtain it (e.g., theft, prostitution, pan-handling). Some have even resorted to extremely desperate measures; for example, murder for inheritance or life insurance proceeds.

The renowned economist Milton Friedman once said, “Innovation comes from self-interest, not government agencies.” This idea, seen as controversial and offensive to many, is at the core of Bernard Mandeville’s argument in his poem, The Grumbling Hive: or, Knaves turn’d Honest. The poem compares the working of society to a busy hive. The hive is flourishing until suddenly the bees become honest and righteous leading them to live simple lives without a thrive community. Through this analogy, Mandeville argues that pursuit of private vices generates public improvements and economic prosperity, meaning, individuals’ tendencies to pursue their own vices, such as lust and greed to innovation for society as a whole. This is demonstrated through the benefits of marijuana legalization.