Methland.

I recently picked up the book Methland, The Death and Life of an American Small Town. It was originally recommended to me by my 9th grade language arts teacher, Mr. Beatty. I actually bought it around that time but never got around to reading it. Watching lots of documentaries on Netflix had got me interested in nonfiction. What made this book even more appealing was that its based in Iowa! Well, kind of. See, this book is all about how meth has ruined small town Iowa and the lives of those who live there. Before I read this book, I didn't know anything about meth. It's a weirdly interesting subject. The trouble all started with the closing of the meat processing plant in Oelwein, Iowa. The majority of the city was employed by the plant, so there was a lot to be upset about. To cope with their unemployment, many citizens of Oelwein turned to using meth. The drug has a strong effect, essentially making a person out of their mind for long 12 hour stretches. Hallucinations are common. While under the influence of meth, a person also has extreme focus and energy for a long stretch of time. Some of the laid off employees found new jobs and and began using it to take long shifts. Meth kingpins soon owned the entire town, using the money they earned from selling to buy virtually every business in Oelwein and other similar towns. This book was really a shock for me to read, I had no idea this was such a problem in Iowa. According to statistics from Methland, the midwest has the highest meth lab seizures of any region. At the same time of reading this, I got into watching the show Breaking Bad, which is about a Chemistry teacher who begins to sell meth to support his family.


....but I'll write about that later.