Meth madness
Last week New Mexico State Police Lt. Frank Musitano presented the staff at Conlee Elementary with an eye-opening look at the meth epidemic in the United States. For sheer horror, this beats any zombie movie ever made. (Even Planet Terror, which is the most over-the-top zombie film I've ever seen.) I guess the reason this meth thing is even more horrific is because this is real.
Zombie teeth? Nope. Meth user's teeth.
For an in-depth look at the madness, check out Frontline's investigative report.
For a New Mexico perspective, visit Drug Endangered Children.
What makes meth so addicitive? It's all about the dopamine. And you thought sex is pleasurable?
"In lab experiments done on animals, sex causes dopamine levels to jump from 100 to 200 units, and cocaine causes them to spike to 350 units. With methamphetamine you get a release from the base level to about 1,250 units, something that's about 12 times as much of a release of dopamine as you get from food and sex and other pleasurable activities."
In a related development, the Mexican drug cartels (whom we have to thank for much of the meth in this country) are leaving a trail of blood and guts on YouTube.
Update - The number of visitors to Teachers' Lounge has greatly spiked since I posted Meth madness. Not only that, but the hits are coming from geographical areas I rarely see - Helsinki, Southern Finland; London, Lambeth; Amsterdam, Noord-Holland; Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg City; Louth (Ireland); Leichhardt, New South Wales; Barcelona, Cataluna; Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest; Bucharest, Bucuresti (Romania); Moscow, Moscow City; Poitiers, Poitou-Charentes (France); Burnaby, British Columbia; Horsens, Vejle (Denmark); Kiev, Kyyivs'ka Oblast' (Ukraine); Tallinn, Harjumaa (Estonia)... you get the idea. Having a curious nature, I want to know why the spike, and why the great geographical diversity. Perhaps some of the visitors here will kindly leave a comment as to how and why you stopped by.
Update on the Update - I done figured this one out. Neatorama picked up the picture of the teeth and people are clicking through to Teachers' Lounge. Ummm, neat!
