Cyndi's Two Cents

Keep meth out of your community

Commentary.

When I was a kid, my parents farmed some river bottom ground about 10 miles from our home farm.  A big brick barn was located down a quarter-mile field road off of the blacktop county road.  Beside the barn, an old abandoned farm house occupied by sparrows and snakes barely stood, crumbling with age.  In front of that old house were diesel and gas tanks.  The nearest farm house was little more than a mile away.  I remember in 1976 my dad bought locks for the gas tanks because one night some kids had gone on a “crime spree” and stolen some gas from our tank as well as several others in the area.  That was a huge deal.  In 1976, there were anhydrous ammonia tanks in every other field, and none of us had heard the word methamphetamine.

Sure, it was the 70’s and s we all knew somebody who smoked or grew marijuana and maybe even a few who had experimented with LSD.  But methamphetamine was not yet a part of our vocabulary.

I challenge you to find anyone in your rural Midwestern community today who hasn’t at least heard about “meth.”  Most of us know someone whose life has been impacted in some way by this evil drug.

Users may become anxious and confused.  They may suffer from insomnia and uncharacteristic mood disturbances.  They may become violent, paranoid and hallucinate.  They may become delusional.  The physical changes in a person who uses meth are noticeable, from weight loss to bad teeth and gums, and skin rashes.

The user is not the only one to suffer from this modern-day bane.  Families suffer as do friends and communities.  Meth users want more meth and will often do whatever it takes to get it, including begging, borrowing and stealing.

The availability of anhydrous ammonia, a chemical used to cook the drug, is a big attraction for meth-makers to set up shop in rural areas.  Almost all of the other ingredients needed to produce methamphetamine, I am told, can be found at a grocery store.

The unwitting crop farmer, just trying to provide Nitrogen for his corn crop, and the local fertilizer dealership, are finding themselves spending more money and time to address the problem.  Fertilizer businesses as well as some farmers are putting up fences around tanks and installing locks, lights, and other security devices.  Anhydrous ammonia nurse tanks waiting in fields overnight for the next day’s work are targets for meth cookers.

The world is much different today than it was back in the 70’s.  The drugs being produced and pushed in our rural communities today contain everything from antifreeze to drain cleaner and battery acid.  Snorting, injecting or ingesting meth makes smoking a little weed look like the picture of innocence.

Methamphetamine production has brought some unsavory characters into our communities.  It has turned some of friends, family and community members into undesirable people.

Talk to your kids, your friends, and your friend’s kids.  Stop the abuse and destruction before it starts. Keep this drug and the element it brings with it out of our schools, businesses and communities.