Glad to hear its not that pervasive, but you can't over-hype the damage it does to individual lives, not to mention their kids.

What?!? Next you'll tell us that there is no oral sex epidemic among middle school children!

Fine, I'm all for a rational and accurate representation of an issue. However, let's not for a second believe that meth isn't a problem. It is and it's a tough one. Meth-heads are some of the most depraved souls alive.

Nobody is claiming that methamphetamine abuse isn't a problem, only that it's the same problem it was 10 or 20 years ago.

In the 80s, fears of crack lead to a slew of draconian sentencing laws that bogged down courts and filled prisons. Now, fears of meth are brewing a similar frenzy and a new set of onerous laws are passing around the country. But meth’s use, like cocaine/crack, has remained relatively constant, while propaganda from the feds and sensationalistic coverage is on an upswing.

There's no need to repeat our drug war follies, turning society upside-down to stop the bubonic plague when it’s only the flu.

"but you can't over-hype the damage it does to individual lives, not to mention their kids."

Unfortunately, it seems all too possible to waaay overhype it.

Part of the damage these days, appears to be one of those unforeseen consequences of the drug war. At each stage of trying to clamp down on meth production (starting in about 1988 or 1989) the quality of the product being sold has deteriorated dramatically. In fact, it's arguable whether what is sold today should really be called meth.

Many drug addicts are fucking scary, especially meth addicts. However, it drives me crazy that we spend so many millions (billions?) of dollars essentially trying to protect people from themselves.

There's a full-page ad in today's NYTimes, a manifesto about gay men and meth, signed by some good folks. Over-reported or over-hyped, meth use ain't something just to be shrugged off

Was this "advocacy group" funded by one the drug companies angry because people can no longer buy hundreds of boxes of over the counter medication at Rite-Aid?

that may be true in your neck of the woods, but here in the midwests beautiful meth homebase you can drive throughh trailer parks in the valleys and smell it brewing. we have labs busted up on an almost daily basis - maybe it's just not making in out of our area...