Dear FRONTLINE,

I'll bet that a $1,000,000,000 tax free prize offered buy the US govt. to the pharmaceticl company that develops an alternative to any product that can be used to manufacture illicit drugs would solve the problem.

Noblesville, IN

Dear FRONTLINE,

Great Program. This should be on primetime television. The spread of meth was bound to happen. With past emphasis and focus on so-called "inner-city" drugs and users, those not living in the inner city have prospered in the manufacturing and sales of meth causing a nation wide epidemic.

It is unfortunate that the dominate culture in the is country are quick to label those with brown skin as the major drug users, when clearly your program shows otherwise.

Dayton, Ohio

Dear FRONTLINE,

Your program was MOST informative and troubling. It's frightening and frustrating. Potential federal control of pseudoephedrine is thwarted by powerful lobbying pharmaceutical corporations. How many more addicts will it take for the current administration to address this insidious epidemic? Lives and families continue to be devastated. Pharmaceutical sales of pseudoephedrine continue to contribute to this epidemic. Yet, the admininstartion does not acknowledge meth addiction has over taken heroin and coke addiction combined. It's time for America to wake up. Thank you for educating me and many others!!

I am most fortunate. I count myself lucky. I have been clean from meth for 2 years now.

Anonymous Viewer
NY, NY

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am a Parole Officer in the state of Missouri, and in Jefferson County, Missouri. Our county is number 1 in the world in Meth Lab busts. To say this problem has become overwhelming, would be an understatement.

The problems associated with Methamphetamine use and production in a rural area can be especially devasting because there are so few, if any resources avaliable to combat this. Most insurance companies, if the offender has insurance will not pay for inpatient treatment, and if they pay it will be a modified short stay. Consequently, most offender go to state funded treatment centers. These treatment centers often have waiting lists that are up to two months long.

This is a drug that is almost immediately addictive. Jefferson County has a high rate of children in foster care due to being removed from housholds where Methamphetamines were found, or produced.

Our jail, on any given day has a higher rate of offender incarcerated for drug charges, often involving Methamphetamines than any other charge.

Simply put, we are currently losing the battle on this drug. While the use of, and production of this drug esculates, our state financial resources are remaining limited at best, or unavailable due to budget constraints at worse.

A simplistic look at this equation would be, an offender produces Methamphetamines in a rural home. She is arrested. The offender has two small children in her custody, they are removed to foster care. If they are lucky, they find placement together. The state pays for this and possible medical treatment for exposure to these chemicals and or any mental health treatment these children need. The Meth lab has to be Cleaned up, again, at state expense. The offender gets a public defender to represent her, again at state's expense. She ends up on Probation, and if lucky gets an officer who understands this drug and sends her to treatment, again at state's expense. If the offender responds to treatment the first time, which often does not happen, she eventually gets better and may get her children and her life back. If she does not, her probation after many trys at intervention, is revoked and she is incarcerated, again at the states cost.

We are just speaking of financial loses here, not to mention, the emotional devestation visited on the children of the offender.

There are also other problems associated with the use of this drug. These include, but, are not limited to sudden death from heart attacks, huge dental problems, as well as the mental toll caused by staying up for days on end and not eating appropriately.

These offenders can become paranoid and violent.

In my opinion this is a war and the response to this problem needs to be the response to a war, including the resources committed to combat this. Because, we will pay one way or the other.

Annalee Long
Hillsboro, Mo

Dear FRONTLINE,

The one thought that I cannot escape is the willingness of the drug manufacturers to turn a blind eye to this epidemic that they are a huge part of. They are making large profits at the expense of everyone in our country, not just those directly suffering from the addiction to meth but those of us who have to pay the collateral costs. Inmate healthcare, family counselling, increased costs to law enforcement, and certainly higher insurance rates due to rising reports of theft.

Corporate greed has reached an intolerable point where the only goal is to make more money regardless of the cost. The denial by company spokesmen of any responsibility on the part of these companies is a slap in the face of common sense. Our government needs to grow some backbone and make these businesses do the right thing. If not, the future will be as black as the map Mr. Suo developed to show the spread of meth across our country.

Alan Fish
Westerville, Ohio

Dear FRONTLINE,

If the pseudo ephedrines are the building blocks of crystal meth and these over the counter drugs produce (on a much smaller scale) a rush similar to the effects of crystal meth, I would assume that taken over a long period of time some of the same side effects (loss of memory and the ability to feel 'happy') may also occur as a result of their use.

Has anyone studied these potential side effects? As an occasional, but long time user of these over the counter products, I am concerned that some of the changes I have encountered over the years are not a natural result of aging as I had suspected but a side effect of cold and alergy medicines.

Rahway, New Jersey

Dear FRONTLINE,

I watched your show on Meth last night (Feb 14) and was amazed at the devastation that this drug has caused. You are right to indicate that its not well known back east. But I will be sending e-mails to my representatives and if I can find out when it airs again I will try to get my daughter to watch it. I do use the pills for allergies and have a box of 144 of them from Costco in the medicine cabinet. I would gladly sign for them if it helps. The scenes of the people were forceful.

Kings Park, NY

FRONTLINE's editors respond:

This program will be available in full to watch online in streamed video, beginning Wednesday 2/15/06 at 5pm.

Dear FRONTLINE,

I watched your show and all I can say is you got it all wrong. First the people you choose to show what meth might do to you, could just as easily been alcoholics or homeless people. Some people just don't take care of them self's whether they are doing drugs or not.

Second all the other problems you discussed can be directly contributed to prohibition. If meth were legal people who find them selves addicted could get help without fear of going to jail. Prohibition is the greatest problem this country has, drug wouldn't be as big of a problem if recreational drug use were legal.

Muskogee, OK

Dear FRONTLINE,

I did meth back when it emerged on the scene in Palm Springs, in the 80's - 90's. I think I did it due to the fast pace of life and wanting to accomplish so much. Meth provides a lot of energy to the user. You are able to accomplish many things at the onset.

My resources were limited, my education minimal and my future bleak. However, there is hope. I have since then educated myself; no longer abuse drugs and no longer desire to. I think the only solution is slowing down the world. Rather than 2 income families; have a parent at home. We all want/need attention. The media has sensationalized materialism and consumerism. We need to go back to the good old days. Whereby,a nice Sunday drive or an ice cream brings us joy and time with family outweights our desires for STUFF....

Surrey,

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am from a community ravaged by this drug it has been in Hawaii since the 80's.The potentcy now is way over what it was back then.This drug is un-believably destructive, and the worst part about it is that it just wont go away.

There is a high incidence of homelessness because of it. I as as ordinary citizen just dont have any answers as do the government and law enforcement. The only reality is to stop it at its base chemical sources.You can educate people and incarcerate people till you turn blue nothings going to stop it. The potential to make fast money is to over powering as is the artificial good feelings this drug gives.The bottom line is it feels good thats why its called drugs.How do you stop that ?

Honolulu, HI

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you so much for airing a program on Meth. I know that most of the general public has no idea about the devastating effects of Meth. People who think that meth doesn't effect them because they don't use are SO wrong. It effects EVERYONE. Each day the problem is growing. Soon our police departments & foster care systems won't be able to handle their loads due to meth. I have never contirbuted financially to PBS but I will now. I will continue to fund as I see more meth education shows. Keep up the great work!

Marysville, WA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have watched most of the recent specials on the meth eppidemic, they are all accurate and tell the same story. The problems with all these shows is they always show the user/addict when they are beyond repair. The user/addict that hasn't reached rock bottom still doesn't believe this is where they will end up.

I would like to see more effort in showing where the people used to be and what they have lost. This approach might have more of an effect on getting the user to realize that they are on a path of destruction. I also believe showing more people trying to live without meth and the pain thier friends and loved ones go through may be a stronger message.

Chris Drucker
Two Harbors, MN

Dear FRONTLINE,

I must say that I completely agree with the doctor from Missouri. Humans managed to survive for millenia without pseudoephedrine. It is the most important ingredient in speed and without access to it, no one can manufacture it, not a little lab in someone's bathroom or a big manufacturer.

The costs to society from meth are enormous, both implicit and explicit. For all of the people who think that it should not be a high priority, you should think about the children it affects.

I have one in my care now who was born a normal healthy baby. Due to his mother's speed habbit and her neglect and abuse of this child, his brain never developed normally. When you have been up on meth for a week, giving a baby a bottle full of Dr. Pepper I guess seems like a good idea, then well hey, the baby likes it and it's cheaper than milk, so we'll just keep giving him that. Never mind what it's going to do to his teeth, or that his brain needs nutrients to develop, it's keeping him quiet so she can have sex with some other strange guy to get yet another bag of speed, because she already spent the welfare check on it.

Now this child is-, today as a matter of fact, and he has to be in "special classes" because he has "developmental disabilities." He will cost society money for the rest of his life, and he is just one of so, so many.

This is not even mentioning the emotional price that he has had to pay, the suspicious death of one of his brothers, and the abandonment of his other 3 siblings, which by the way are also going to cost society for the rest of their lives with all of their problems. So right here you have four little human beings that could have been productive members of society, but their mother was hooked on a drug that could have so easily been eradicated, but for the almighty dollar it has not.

It is so hard for me to understand how meth has not been controlled in so many years as it has been available because it is SO destructive. I have tried it, and even used it in the late 1980's and early 1990's. It was a terrible world to be in and I made a conscious decision to leave it behind before I had my own children. Unfortunately of all of the people that I knew in that world, very few had the will power to leave it that I did.

People sit on high horses everywhere and talk about the type of people that use meth, but it is yet another equal opportunity destroyer. All it takes is one try, and it is so seductive, it's going to make you skinny and sexy, you can stay up longer and work more hours, and it is inexpensive. Who wouldn't try it just once? I saw people from all walks of life addicted, from welfare mom's to Phd's. Which by the way, a welfare mother is no less important than a Phd. because her job is raising a child that will be a part of OUR society. Meth robs our society of so much!

Is it really so important that a drug companies make a profit from a decongestant? Who exactly is that money benefitting? Is it benefitting you or I? Or is it benefitting someone in a huge house on a hill somewhere with a big gate around it? Who is paying the price for it? We ALL pay the price for meth and will pay it for generations to come.

Lisa Schmidt
Alta Loma, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

We are helping my younger sister raise her son (she is a productive, hard working member of society) because his father recently hung himself while under the influence of methamphetamine and alcohal and the despair of knowing that he couldn't quit, know matter how hard he tried. That... year old boy did try so hard and so many times to shake his habit, that was shrouded in shame. Watching the last six months of his life was like watching "The Night Of The Living Dead", these addicts are more often than not dead before they literally die. He was a handsome "All American, meat and potatoes" boy that shriveled before our eyes into a broken leftover shell of what was once a human being.

I am committed to devoting whatever it takes to avenging the death of my beautiful 2 year old nephews father. I know beyond a shadow-of-a-doubt that means coming against the family members, corporations, law enforcement, legislation, education, and lack of personal accountability that has followed. Don't lump me into a social bracket either, even our friends in Congress, in the Senate, and in every nook and cranny of our society have been directly effected even if it is a embarassing social taboo. Pseudoephredrine companies, have the money, clout, and experience to help be a strong leader in this war against speed and it would be a horrible waste of what they have been blessed with to not sieze this life changing opportunity.

DANIELLE
jamestown, CALIFORNIA

Dear FRONTLINE,

The broadcast was fine as far as it went, but as someone in retail sales in an area very affected by the epidemic, there are some very important points you left out;1) Our store and all the other retailers that sell pseudo ephedrin containing cold remedies locked up the medications used by the cooks at least two years ago without the government having to tell us anything. We routinely lock up anything that gets stolen so much.2) Law enforcement has consistently ignored our attempts to report the purchase of OTHER common ingredients of the manufacture of meth. At our store, we have finally given up in disgust.3) Your DEA "experts" forgot to mention that even if the bad guys get the PSE from elsewhere, they Still buy the lye, ammonia, and other caustics from grocery and hardware stores, and the staff almost always knows what they are up to because of how they reek.4) None of these measures will work unless law enforcement and the government LISTEN to the neighbors who report the chemical smells, the family members who smell it in a relatives home or on their clothing, and the little people like me and my co-workers who are around the meth-lepers every day.This drug problem is like none we have ever faced before, and if some common sense is not used to fight it, it will destroy our nation. We need to make sure every little kid in elementry school knows what it will surely do to them if they use it. The cost is heartbreaking, and there doesn't seem to be any cure, yet we are still seeing young people who don't understand; who think they can use it and not pay the price. In closing, the problem is worse than you think, and the measures to fix it may be too little too late. If anyone gets a cold, I recommend chicken soup. We've locked up our cold medicines, but the cooks in our area haven't even slowed down.

Loree Byers
Shelton, WA