Methamphetamine Abuse: PBS Frontline – the Meth Epidemic (4/4)

Methamphetamine Abuse: PBS Frontline – The Meth Epidemic (4/4)

Speed. Meth. Glass. On the street, methamphetamine has many names. What started as a fad among West Coast motorcycle gangs in the 1970s has spread across the United States, and despite lawmakers’ calls for action, the drug is now more potent, and more destructive, than at any time in the past decade. In “The Meth Epidemic,” FRONTLINE, in association with The Oregonian, investigates the meth rampage in America: the appalling impact on individuals, families and communities, and the difficulty of controlling an essential ingredient in meth—ephedrine and pseudoephedrine—sold legally in over-the-counter cold remedies. In Congress, a bipartisan coalition has called for international controls on ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, either of which is essential for making meth. Many states [see map] have forced cold medicines containing these ingredients off retail shelves and behind the pharmacy counter — a move that may become a national requirement. Methamphetamine abuse started in California and Oregon but spread rapidly into the Midwest. Now the drug has reached the East Coast. “Meth has made a steady march across the United States,” says Steve Suo, a reporter for Portland’s The Oregonian who has followed meth from the beginning. “Right now you have Mexican methamphetamine flooding in through Atlanta, and from there [it] fans out both south and north.” The discovery of meth labs in states from Maine to Florida foreshadows a new crisis on the East Coast: “They can expect to see …

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