I had a hard time with this essay, feedback is greatly appreciated!!  Tracy

Methamphetamine, a Blessing and a Curse

Imagine you are seventeen years old. You are the sole provider for your twelve year old brother and your six year old sister. Your mother is mentally ill and unable to provide any support. Your father is a known methamphetamine dealer who is often absent and out of the picture. This is reality for the main character of Daniel Woodrell’s compelling novel “Winter’s Bone”. Ree Dolly lives in the rural area of the Ozarks, located in Missouri. She is struggling to keep her family feed when she learns the horrible truth that her drug dealing father is missing, and even worse, he signed their family home away for his bail. Ree and her family are destine to lose their home if he does not show up for bail, therefore, Ree sets out to find her father and save her family.

“Winter’s Bone” is a captivating story that houses many themes within its pages. This is a story about family bonds, perseverance and most notably drug use. Throughout, this story the reader is confronted with the commonplace use of drugs that occurs in the Ozarks. It is apparent that the characters in Daniel Woodrell’s book are dependent on methamphetamine not only for its pharmaceutical purposes’, but also for the things that the drug can do for their economy. “Winter’s Bone” shows firsthand the negative and positive effects that Methamphetamine use can have on a person and the small town that they call home. This novel details how a small town depends on meth to fuel themselves and their economy as much as they are victims of meth’s devastating consequences.

Methamphetamine is widely known as a devastating, addictive, and life altering drug. However, that wasn’t always the case. Initially, Japanese chemist, Nagayoshi Nagai, first synthesized Meth in 1898. The public rejoiced it as a miracle drug, and “By 1933, Meth was heralded in the United States as a drug on par with Penicillin.” (Methland, 44) Methamphetamine was used to treat conditions such as narcolepsy, weight gain, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, fatigue, alcoholism and hyperactivity. (Methland, 44) This new miracle drug was also used to aid soldiers that were going in to battle. With all the promises being made on the part of meth it is easy to see how so many Americans as well as nations around the world demanded a large supply of this drug.

Now let’s examine the effects that methamphetamine had on the economies of small towns like the author’s hometown of Oelwein, Iowa. Citizens in small towns like the author’s hometown believed that nothing bad could ever happen in their town, and they were right, until the farming crisis hit in the 1980’s. (Homans) People who had been farming, or working for a small factory all their lives suddenly found themselves jobless. The author of “Methland” Nick Redding uses his book to convey the story of a young man named Roland Jarvis.  He became addicted to Meth while working for a meatpacking plant. “Jarvis considered Meth to be his job security” “It made Jarvis into the ideal employee.” (Methland, 50) Although, at the time Jarvis made good money and was receiving full union benefits from his company, he used Meth to make it possible to take on double shifts and work for days on end to try and save up money. (Methland, 50) Then things in small town Oelwein, Iowa began to change when Jarvis’s small meatpacking plant was bought by Gillette (Methland, 51) “Overnight, the union was dismantled, and the wages according to Jarvis and Clay Hallberg, fell from $18 hour to $6.20.” (Methland, 51)  Meth was now not only Jarvis’s addiction, he began to dependent on it to supply for his family. This is just one of the many stories of small towns in American that saw the introduction of Meth labs. The story of Roland Jarvis mimics the story of so many of the characters in “Winters Bone”.

After reading Daniel Woodrell’s “Winter’s Bone” I still had some lingering questions as to why the characters would embark on making meth when they know all too well the negative effects of the life of a meth cooker. “Methland” showed me that the characters of Daniel Woodrell’s novel depended on the manufacturing of meth to keep their economy going when like the example of Roland Jarvis, their towns offered them no other opportunities to provide for themselves. With all the benefits that are promised from meth, it is understandable why some people feel making meth is their only option to survival.

Of course, for all the things that Methamphetamine promise, in my opinion the negative effects far outweigh the positive. Meth has lasting negative effects on the way a person looks, their local economy, and of course their overall health. The cleanliness and safety of their home, the safety of their environment, including, their drinking water, the ability to feel emotion, the ability to care and provide for their families are all at risk once a person becomes addicted to Meth, because, Meth becomes the only thing that matters.

“In our discussion of health risks, we noted the potential for fires, explosions and toxic fumes in the manufacturing of meth.  Many meth cookers have inhaled toxic fumes, incurred serious burns and some have been seriously injured or killed as a result of meth-related explosions.  The injuries and deaths take their toll in human and financial costs to those involved and their families…” (Dobbins)

These aforementioned negative effects are show throughout “Winter’s Bone” in the melted meth labs, dysfunctional families and scarred faces of Woodrells general public. The costs of Meth usage to a community is almost impossible to determine. “Meth users and cookers are also prone to heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage, premature death, and overdose” (Dobbins) and most of these do not have insurance; therefore, the cost of their care falls on the taxpayers. Hospital bills are also incurred by addicts because of their lack of fine motor skills, making addicts prone to accidents while doing task such as driving. “The meth industry also takes a high cost on the environment.  Meth fires, explosions and the dumping of waste products are threats to environmental conditions.” (Dobbins) Illegal dumping of these waste products pollutes the environment while seeping into the soil and effecting water and food supplies.

            I am grateful for the glimpse into the world of Methamphetamine use that Daniel Woodrell has given me. Having no previous knowledge of Meth except for the fact that it is bad for you, it was interesting to see Meth use and production from this point of you. It is easy to see how for the people of Ree Dolly’s world Methamphetamine use and production seems like their only option. However, one might wonder if they have considered if the high that is gained or the money earned from producing Methamphetamine is enough to justify all the negative effects.

Works Cited:

1.         Nick , Reding. Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town. <http://books.google.com/books.

2.         Homans, Charles. "Why Midwestern Small Towns Have Been Ravaged by Meth Addiction." . N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar 2012. <http://www.alternet.org

3.         Dobbins, Kenneth. "Costs of Meth." . N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar 2012. <http://www5.semo.edu/criminal/medfels/text_meth_cost.htm>.