New at Reason

David Weigel | March 31, 2006

Jacob Sullum gets the vapors after taking in Russia's Faces of Meth.

Comments

Larry A|3.31.06 @ 3:39PM|#

Once again they left out a few of the dioramas:

• The face showing a person screaming in pain because his physician has been arrested and every one else is scared to write him a pescription.
• Cancer patients barfing their meds because they can't toke up.
• Kids sitting in foster care waiting for parents to get out of prison.
• The family burying a loved one who lived at 123 East Main, and the warrant should have read 123 West Main.
• The family living in poverty because their country is run by narco kings.

John M. Joy|3.31.06 @ 4:07PM|#

Incidentally (and yes, I realize this is only tangentially related)...

Is it my imagination, or is there a big movement afoot lately by the "usual suspects" against underage drinking? The latest craze seems to be getting states to pass laws prohibiting alcohol consumption on private property (i.e. at home, with mom and dad present). Connecticut is considering such now.

Upshot, of course, is it gives the cops yet another excuse to raid - "probable cause of a violation of section such-and-such" i.e. Junior's having a beer with Dad at the family picnic.

(And, yes, I know Jacob covered this back in '02 - my question is, is the drumbeat getting louder, or does it simply seem so because it's closer to me now?)

JMJ

|3.31.06 @ 4:26PM|#

"And, yes, I know Jacob covered this back in '02 - my question is, is the drumbeat getting louder, or does it simply seem so because it's closer to me now?"

Not your imagination. When my clock-radio clicked on earlier this week, NPR had a story about the Bush administration's push to increase the use of drug testing in schools. OK, that's not particularly shocking. What caused me to practically jump out of my bed and scream was that they had a clip from John Walters in which he off-handedly mentioned that schools resist testing because:

"They're afraid they're going to find kids that need treatment. We're also going to find in some cases they didn't get their first drug or first drink from their friends -- they got it from their father or their mother or their brother." (emphasis added)

The NPR story is available as audio here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5302217

|3.31.06 @ 5:45PM|#

J.M.J.: I echo SR on this, sad to say not only is the drumbeat getting louder, it is also getting closer to all of us as well.

Larry A|4.1.06 @ 10:49AM|#

It takes a village, with a jail.

|4.1.06 @ 8:46PM|#

Larry A,
You meant to say, "village with a hoosegow."

Jails are a city thing.

James Anderson Merritt|4.2.06 @ 11:22AM|#

"...gets the vapors"???

Somebody, please, light a match.

|4.5.06 @ 12:28AM|#

Speaking of freak shows: anybody catch Nightline's Tuesday night puff piece on the Montana anti-meth campaign? There's nothing sadder than people who believe their own bullshit...