Pubdate: Sun, 08 Oct 2000
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/man/opinion/letters.html
Website: http://www.fresnobee.com/
Forum: http://www.fresnobee.com/man/projects/webforums/opinion.html
Note: This series also ran in the Modesto Bee  and the 
Sacramento Bee  A Special Report by the McClatchy 
Company's California Newspapers with a special website:
http://www.methvalley.com/
Also: There is an index with links at the end of this item.

A Madness Called Meth: PROLOGUE

CALIFORNIA'S SOCIAL, MEDICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARE

The little girl is 4 and wise beyond her years.

She tugs on the woman's bullet-proof vest. "I know what you came for," she 
whispers.

Down the hallway in her mother's bedroom, she opens the top drawer of a 
bureau to display baggies of methamphetamine, scales, homemade pipes used 
to smoke the drug, and account books that document sales.

She describes in detail how her mother had smoked a pipe of crank that 
morning and explains that she'd been sleeping with her mommy for several 
days because the dog had pooped in her bed and nobody had bothered to clean 
it up.

"People come to visit Mommy, and they bring money. It's green, and it has a 
two and a zero," she says. "She gives them little baggies with white stuff."

Then the little girl with the long, brown ponytail and cherubic smile goes 
off with a social worker to McDonald's for a Happy Meal, before heading to 
the hospital for a complete physical.

Eventually, she will live the rest of her childhood with strangers. Her 
mother will end up in jail. Or dead.

SERIES INDEX:

Introduction
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1500/a07.html

Chapter 1: The Family Who Cranks Together
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1501/a08.html

Chapter 2: Uncle Fester
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1502/a02.html

Chapter 3: Father Time
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1501/a07.html

Chapter 4: Beavis, Butt-Head And The Making Of Meth
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1502/a01.html

Chapter 5: Meth And The Drug Lords
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n1501.a10.html

Chapter 5b: Walking A Fine Line
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1502/a04.html

Chapter 6: The Spiders
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1502/a03.html

Chapter 6b: From Small-Time Dealer To Big Time Cook
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1505/a01.html

Chapter 7: Users, The Stories Of Three Meth Addicts
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n1501.a09.html

Chapter 8: Suffer The Children
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1503/a02.html

Chapter 8b: The Struggle Of A Father And Daughter
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1504/a06.html

Chapter 9: The Pit In The Barn
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1506/a05.html

Chapter 9b: A Homestead In Ruins
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1504/a04.html

Chapter 10: How Clean Is Clean?
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1504/a03.html

Chapter 11: Congress And The Pill Makers
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1506/a04.html

Chapter 12: Squeezing The Balloon
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1507/a05.html

Chapter 12b: "Life Or Meth?"
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1504/a05.html

Chapter 13: The Bust, Agents And A Dealer Square Off
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1506/a03.html

Chapter 14: Getting Straight
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1507/a04.html

Chapter 14b: "This Keeps Us Clean"
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1504/a07.html

Chapter 14c: Iowa'S Rainbow Recovery Center
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1504/a08.html

Chapter 15: Nicki's Road
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1503/a01.html

Epilogue
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1502/a05.html

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Added by MAP:

A Madness Called Meth, Editorial
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1509/a02.html

A Madness Called Meth, To Our Readers
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1508/a07.html

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MAP posted-by: Jo-D