I've not been very faithful with my blog lately. I leave for Asia on Feb. 3, and then I'll blog regularly.
Just finished a book that knocked my socks off! METHLAND: THE DEATH AND LIFE OF AN AMERICAN SMALL TOWN, by Nick Reding uses Oelwein, IA as a case in point to describe the effects of the methamphetamine epidemic. Reding ties the rise of meth to the large economic issues of rural America such as agri-business. The book is full of data but reads like a novel because he includes empathetic stories of the people who have been touched by meth in one way or another.
He writes "For me, a true chronicle of the height of the meth years from 2005 to 2008 must begin with a town and all its people. If meth alone were to define Oelwein--and through it, the entire small town United States--the truth would be hopelessly obscured. And the truth is, Clay and Major, Nathan and Roland, Murphy and Lori and the people in the Do Drop Inn--these people are us." p. 93
I came away from the book realizing how my life is complicit in the conditions that lead to drug abuse. He points out in the book that America is a psychological nation not a sociological one. By that he mean we always place primary emphasis on the role of the individual without considering the social forces surrounding that individual
It further convinced me that, once again, prohibition is not working.
No comments:
Post a Comment