Methamphetamine: Moonshine For The New Millinium

8 Pages 2051 Words

There was a time, here in the hills of Kentucky, when police and government agents combed the mountains for illegal distilleries used for the production of illegal liquor. The ingredients used seemed harmless and the process was somewhat safe. The product itself, aside from the occasional bad batch, yielded virtually side effects aside from the obvious of being hard to swallow. Some people, in fact, claimed it had genuine medicinal qualities. The liquor being referred to is good ol’ moonshine. The days of the moon shiner have, for the most part, disappeared. Unfortunately, a new, much more dangerous homemade substance has taken its place. Methamphetamine.
Methamphetamine is a growing problem in eastern Kentucky that must be prevented. According to a press released issued from the office of Ernie Fletcher;
In the last seven years- from 1998 through 2000- the instances of meth labs in Kentucky increased by nearly 3,000 percent-from 19 labs to 579. In the last five years alone, the number of labs has jumped by more than 450 percent-from 104 labs in 2000 to 579 in 2004.
(Governor Ernie Fletcher…)
Unfortunately, this trend is continuing and growing. One reason meth labs began appearing seemingly overnight is because there were virtually no laws in place to govern or restrict the purchase of ingredients: “Kentucky and Indiana failed to update laws to prevent producers from buying enough cold and allergy medications to make meth”(Yetter). Meth labs are appearing all over the state of Kentucky and according to an article from the Cincinnati area newspaper, The Enquirer, “The worst threat is from small labs in garages, fields, and just about anywhere else.” (Yetter.) To further demonstrate the spread of meth labs, Kentucky governor Ernie Fletcher states “Meth labs have been reported in 89 of our 120 counties” (Governor Ernie Fletcher…).
At the onset of the rise in methamphetamine...