I am originally from a small town in southern West Virginia. I have lived away from the area for about 8 years now, but I continue to go back 3-4 times a year to visit family and friends. I have noticed over the last several years that the town I grew up in (and many small towns just like it) is being devastated by the growing methamphetamine problem. Streets that I used to ride bikes on as a kid are no longer safe, the crime rate has skyrocketed (vandalism, theft, assault, arson, you name it), a growing number of people are on welfare and are jobless because they spend all of their money doing drugs. The conditions of these towns are terrible....run-down builidings, condemned buildings (from houses that were used as meth labs), people not taking care of themselves and their properties. It makes me want to cry just thinking about how nice my little town used to be and now it's completely overrun by drugs. My mother told me that she could guarantee that if a car drives down our street past 10:00pm, 9 out of 10 times it will be a drug-run. My next door neighbors have taken in a baby of one of their relatives because the parents were so strung out on meth that they left her laying in a crib and her skull was sunken in. My first cousin has had two people found dead in her trailer within the last year and she recently came into some money (about $60,000, but that is a long story) and it's ALL gone within 4 months....all spent on drugs! Stories like this are all I hear now about the area that I grew up in. Is anyone else facing issues like this? What can be done to change this worsening epidemic? Any thougtful input would be appreciated!
Helloooo --- I never once met a drug addict who thought that what he or she was doing was the high life (no pun intended.) Addiction is a disease, just like all the others we treat, and it would behoove us as nurses to take our jobs very seriously when we treat addicts. We are in a pivotal position to refer these people to the treatment facilities they so desperately need. Yeah, the fruits of doing this may not be seen immediately, but you never know when one of them will clean up and come back and thank you for being the one voice they heard through the fog that day. Your impact as a nurse is never to be underestimated. When I think of all the diabetic education we do every day, I wonder why we continue. But there is always that one person who heeds the call, makes the changes and recovers as a result. Addicts are no different. Do the job to educate yourself about this horrible disease, and be better equipped to administer the care you give.
Please remember, we are the most depressed society on the planet. We are talking about this in a sociology class that I am taking. We are the most lonely and lost. Even religion does not tend to help. I don't want to get into religion here but in class we discussed Christianity. The normal scenario is that the Christian goes to church on Sunday. They slide into a pew and maybe shake hands when the minister says with the person that is next to them. After church, they leave and go home to their life. My soc teacher said this is part of the problem. Other religions live their life around their particular religion. They have strong family ties. They do not relocate for economic reasons, because frankly, they don't exist. Americans, she said, buy things to make them feel better, but the feeling does not last. She said a car was originally meant to get a person from point A to point B. Now it is used as class warfare. I have a lexus, and you don't mentality. In our local newpaper, there was an article about all the young married couples that are buying 900k houses. The article made it sound that they are better and smarter than the rest of us. I think the nursing profession is just, if not more important. These couples did not have any special type of job. Heck, some of them did not even have a college education. But they were noted as very elite (and smart). Others read these articles and become more depressed as they will never drive a lexus or afford a 900k house. As a last resort, they turn to drugs. It makes them feel better. They can "talk" to strangers more easily, and it basically zones them out. Now, I do not know if this makes any sense or if there is any truth to it, but it made sense to me.
How sad is this truth? It is certainly not universally recognized...this is something that is not really talked about often...sometimes I think of my childhood as a dream, where the realities of life were blissfully ignorant to me. I can get that dream back when I play with my nieces...anyway...
The loss of communities and connections to others is a huge force...it'd be interesting to know what changed in this country...but thats off topic....
To those who are struggling with addiction...keep up the fight...never surrender...
To those who remind us to remember that it could be us, our family members...it's something that I do forget...
20 minutes until September 11....good god its been 5 years....
Meth is a "hubbub", as you say, in these small communities because it is a new epidemic for us. Many people choose not to live in large cities and metropolitan areas because of many of the negative aspects that goes a long with city life, such as violence, crime and drugs. Many people feel that living in a small community is a safe haven where they can raise their families and children without worrying about what their children are seeing and being exposed to. People in small communities are generally used to a slower, more laid-back pace to life and they enjoy the comraderie of their neighbors and friends. So I'm sorry that meth is OLD news to you, but it's new news to a lot of people and we are taking it very seriously. We don't want our communities to have to deal with this "scourge".
Well if it's new news to people in small towns, they need to start reading the national/global newspapers and watching international/nationwide news. Like I said - old news for those of us in big cities. I've lived in a small town but no more, it was horrible. Everyone is in everyone else's business and knows everything about everyone. Plus diversity and racial tolerance and important to me. At my hospital, just on my floor alone I work with nurses from Ireland, the Philippines, Nigeria, Turkey, Iraq, Ethiopia, Mexico and Vietnam - not just that ethnic background but actually FROM that country. My patients are the majority white - but plenty of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian (from India) and once in awhile a Mexican - and I love it. Plus, I'm in an interracial marriage, my kids are mixed and I wouldn't want them to be looked down upon like they are we we travel to other areas. Small towns where everyone is the same and everyone knows each other and no one locks their doors - sounds great at first but lots of bad stuff happens there, just no one talks about it or pretends it isn't happening.
Everything always filters from the large metropolitan cities like NYC, L.A., Paris, London, etc - across the country or across the pond. Whether we're talking about fashion trends, designer drugs, movie premieres, TV shows, it all hits the big cities first, you guys get it secondhand and late. In spite of knowing this is the case, small towns seem poorly equipped to deal with things when they do arrive. Big cities have large police forces, powerful legislation with wealthy contributors, federally funded county and city free/reduced cost drug programs, support groups. Smaller towns on the other hand have a bunch of people shaking their heads and wringing their hands wondering how this happened to their nice little town.
Maybe smaller towns in rural areas should pay more attention to what's going on in Hollywood, NYC streets and L.A.s ghettos because the gangs, illegal immigrants, drugs, raves, meth labs, overpriced shoes - whatever - they're all coming your way sooner or later. When they do come, wouldn't it be great if everyone already knew all about it and had a plan to deal with it? Wouldn't it be great if people knew wall about meth, how it was made, what the signs of use are, had a plan to detect and stop it? Kids in small towns are most likely bored (I know I was) and meth is the most exciting and glamorous thing to happen to them in ages. I got into more trouble in small towns than I ever did in large cities - after all there was nothing to do but hang out somewhere and drink, do drugs and have sex or get in trouble somehow.
weezledawg
71 Posts
Helloooo --- I never once met a drug addict who thought that what he or she was doing was the high life (no pun intended.) Addiction is a disease, just like all the others we treat, and it would behoove us as nurses to take our jobs very seriously when we treat addicts. We are in a pivotal position to refer these people to the treatment facilities they so desperately need. Yeah, the fruits of doing this may not be seen immediately, but you never know when one of them will clean up and come back and thank you for being the one voice they heard through the fog that day. Your impact as a nurse is never to be underestimated. When I think of all the diabetic education we do every day, I wonder why we continue. But there is always that one person who heeds the call, makes the changes and recovers as a result. Addicts are no different. Do the job to educate yourself about this horrible disease, and be better equipped to administer the care you give.