From Portland, Oregon too Pulaski, Tennessee, methamphetamine has riddled streets and taken countless lives in one form or
another. As the drug continues to sweep the nation, claiming city and rural
streets as its own, government heads turn in the direction of the 2012
election, entitlement reform(which needs reform), and screwing the elderly’s Medicare programs that they worked all their
lives to obtain. “The state [of Tennessee] ranked second only to Missouri last
year for reported labs” (Matt Lakin, 2011). Where is the government on this
issue? Threatening to cut funding for America’s finest Police Officers and
Drug Task groups that work tirelessly putting their lives on the line to combat
the problem and jail offenders -that’s where! “Another year set another record
for methamphetamine labs in Tennessee, with nearly 2,100 suspected labs busted
last year, higher even than initially projected …an increase of 45% from 2009”
(Matt Lakin, 2011). This astonishing number only accounts for one state’s count
out of a nation of 50; imagine the count if coupled with the rest of the United
States lab counts.
In a recent report from methresourse.gov, it gives some explanations
for the lab counts and meth problem in Tennessee: Suggesting,
“The labs that are discovered in Tennessee are generally
characterized as small and unsophisticated…These labs continue to pose a
significant threat [however], because lab operators are frequently armed and substantially
involved in the drug’s distribution and therefore tend to place booby traps
around the sites” (methresources.gov, 2011).
This resource site goes on to explain that: “Much of the
methamphetamine consumed in the state [of Tennessee] is transported from Mexico
and the southwest border states” (methresources.gov, 2011); providing another
prominent reason for tighter border control and immigration reform. While the
methamphetamine and other drugs flow into the U.S, President Obama refuses to
secure our borders properly and deport illegal immigrants. Is the problem
simply because of unsecured borders? Not at all; however, securing the border
would show a good-faith act on the President’s part –proving that he is part of
the solution and not the problem. It is the government’s job to keep Americans
safe from any threat, and methamphetamine is more than a treat; furthermore,
the dealers of such drugs are terrorists that need to be extinguished.
That being said: Recently I had an unfortunate chance to
stay at the Budget Inn on HW 31 in Pulaski, Tennessee. For one week I stayed in
a room that had previously been occupied by a drug dealer; the knocks on the
door and phone calls plagued me until the morning I checked out. I complained
to the owners with no recourse except an offer to change rooms. That would have
been fine minus the fact that except for two other guests the rest of the rooms
had been occupied by the same; drug dealers and seekers were walking the
parking lot, there was continuous traffic 24/7, and one particular dealer was
going door-to-door delivering meth. Being a student and writer, sleepless
nights and fear is not what I paid for nor did I want; not to mention the owner’s
son cruising the parking lot ringing a cowbell to warn the dealers when the
police were near. That’s right –I said the owner’s son! It seemed that not only
were the owners’ renting to these low-lives, they were warning them as well. I
was being terrorized by my fellow Americans; sleeping with an open knife to
protect myself.
Should we as Americans be subjected to this kind of
behavior and terrorism? No! However, police work hard putting these dealers and
cookers in jail just for the justice system to slap their hand and set them
free. Where is the justice in that? The frustration with this process shows on
the face of every police officer and DEA agent putting their life on the line
to catch and re-catch these dealers, with no end in sight. Now, with the
economy in utter peril, congress and government officials are talking cuts to
funding. This is a war on our own soil Mr. President and warrants the action of
the National Guard at the very least; furthermore, tougher penalties must be
imposed on these home-grown terrorists –as well as tougher immigration laws (or
letting states impose existing ones) and strict border control. If such action
is not taken, America is sure to be lost to the degenerates that cook and push
methamphetamine. And, Mr. President –I will give you the credit for putting the
lives of me and fellow Americans at risk sir!
States are coming up with tougher over-the-counter drug
laws to throw a wrench in the drug dealers’ cooking plans, but it has not
stopped the cookers’ from finding alternative action such as “supersmurfing” (finding
and paying others to store hop and purchase pseudoephedrine). “In 2005, Oregon
passed the strictest limits in the nation on the ingredients of meth…Oregon was
the first to require a prescription to get the cold-remedy pseudoephedrine” (Colin
Fogarty, 2007). Yet, Oregon’s methamphetamine problems still exist; costing
hundreds of lives a year. “Methamphetamine-related deaths in Oregon jumped 22% in 2010, claiming
106 lives –the most in a single year over the last decade, according to
statistics compiled by the state medical examiner” (Maxine Bernstein, 2011).
How many lives must be lost to this drug before the government steps in Mr.
President? How many times must I sleep with an open knife afraid to walk down
America’s sidewalks sir?
In conclusion, Tennessee and Oregon are only a small part
of this meth America; 48 other states have similar or worse issues. America as
a whole is affected terribly by this mind-altering evil and it must stop. If
the President will send our military over-seas to accomplish peace and safety for
others: Why is he not doing so in HIS own country? Could it be the minority
vote he hopes to secure again? Americans need action from the American
Government and President to keep us safe; if congress and the President refuse
this service to their country –I consider it tyranny and an act of desertion at
best and they all should be removed from office!
“America
will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
Abraham Lincoln
This
country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever
they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their
Constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember
it or overthrow it.”
Abraham Lincoln
“The
dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is
piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new,
we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we
shall save our country”.
Abraham Lincoln
References
Bernstein, Maxine. (2011, May 13). Oregon
meth-related deaths jump 22 percent in 2010, most in decade.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/05/meth-related_deaths_jump_22_pe_1.html
Fogarty, Colin. (2007, September 18). Drug report finds meth still a problem in Oregon.
OPB
News. http://news.opb.org/article/drug-report-finds-meth-still-problem-oregon
Lakin, Matt. (2011, January 17). Reported meth labs up in Tennessee in 2010. Knoxnews.com.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jan/17/report-meth-labs-up-in-2010
methresources.gov. (2011, August 30). Methamphetamine in Tennessee.
http://www.methresources.gov/tn.html