Fresno is considered to be the leading intravenous drug-using city in the U.S. It is filled with people who abuse drugs, including hard ones such as cocaine, meth, and heroin. The meth epidemic is very prevalent in the city, to an extent that one cannot walk for a mile without being exposed. Moreover, the rates are very alarming, standing at 4 times that of the nation’s average. The entire population is embattled in this war against drug use and as such, they are all familiar with Fresno and the problem it has caused over the past decades.
In Fresno, a majority of the citizens are Latino immigrants and as such, the problem of drug addiction is prevalent among this population ( Vice, 2019 ). It is important to note that there is a clear distinction between those affected by the drug and those who are not. Homeless individuals are deep into lives of drug use and all this can be attributed to high poverty levels in the city. In the video, one interviewee notes that most people do it as a means of coping with problems of life. In Fresno, the economy is rather low and the circulation of money is not good at all. The main debate lies on the fact that the problem only affects the poor. This means that most families struggle just to get through a day and as such, they resort to finding an escape for their troubles. Those who work in the farms are no better because they receive the lowest pay in the city. High unemployment rates also worsen the epidemic, because people have to be involved in drug cartels, the smuggling business, crime or drug use to get by every single day. Selling the drug is therefore seen as good means of making money in the city, based on the fact that street dealers make up to $2,500 ( Hansell, 2008 ).
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All these individuals view the issue from a victim’s angle and from an economic hardship angle. The perspective of the former can be seen from the way the addicted residents go to get treatment and injection needles for their problem. Even from the way they talk and present themselves, one can note that they are helpless beings who have no other alternative but to use Meth. It is saddening to see old women turn for help as a result of meth addiction. The other viewpoint is from the poverty angle where the citizens see the issue but have no financial means of dealing with it. Even those who earn do not get enough for their families and as such, they cannot do anything about the epidemic. They have to seek help from those who have the sympathy to offer it because, on their own, they would probably suffer and die in the long run.
In the documentary, a homeless woman named Katherine is interviewed and she gives her views on the drug epidemic. She says that she has been homeless for four years and knows that meth is a problem in the city ( Garriott, 2011 ). Unlike other drugs where one has to have connections to a drug dealer or go to a specific spot to buy it, things are quite different in Fresno. Meth is all over the place because people know that it is not an illegal drug. According to Williams (2017) , an estimated 80% of meth is smuggled by cartels from Fresno. It is, however, imperative to note that despite these trends, not all of those who live in the streets of Fresno are drug addicts. For instance, Katherine notes that her close neighbor Ronnie has not been exposed to the culture. The implication here is that there are people who use the drug whereas there are those who do not. This statement is very important because most people think of drug addiction and crime whenever they hear of Fresno. They believe that nothing good can ever come out of the region, yet this is not the case. The debate here is that Fresno is a city of drug addicts and as such, it has to be labelled as a meth zone.
The documentary has done a good job portraying the state of addiction and economic turmoil in the region, but it paints a very bad image of the city. The video presents a city at the brink of destruction, where drug use is the norm of the day. High poverty levels, increased crime rates, the existence of drug cartels and other bad things are aired to the audience, who is left with a negative judgment of Fresno. People are left to believe that there is no hope in reviving the city and ending the addiction problem because apparently, even children have access to meth.
I believe that the interviewer could have done a better job presenting the city from an angle that would not give the audience a prejudiced judgment. Characterizing Fresno as the Meth capital is not entirely a fair thing to do, even if the problem is that bad ( Norquist & Spalding, 2012 ). There are cities where the problem is also deeply embedded in the fabric of the society but such categorizations have not been made. The city is presented as an addiction zone where there is no possibility of a good life. Watching the video makes the public fear the city because they believe it is very dangerous and unhealthy with no likelihood of a normal life.
Even though people think the government is not doing anything to reduce such problems, data indicates that they set along $20 million to cater to drug treatment programs ( Mehling, Triggle & Triggle, 2008 ). The truth of the matter is that this allocation is insignificant as compared to the level of problems in the country and cities like Fresno. Mulcahy, Huessy & Brownstein (n.d.) note that the program was started in 2002 and up to 2015, an estimated 9,000 people had received treatment. Based on the prevalence and seriousness of the epidemic, both state and federal governments need to introduce and fund more drug treatment programs in areas where the situation cannot be controlled.
The police have made numerous arrests and drug busts in the city, with the most recent in June 2018, where 46 pounds of meth, five firearms, and $10,000 cash were seized during a traffic stop ( Guy, 2018 ). The drug dealer in the video does not seem afraid to point out what he does for a living, because if he does not supply them, residents, someone else will. The government is responsible for the state of drug and use in the city because it passed the Prop 47 law, which reduced smaller drug possessions into misdemeanors ( Linnemann, 2016 ). Dealers cannot be kept away from homeless individuals because even if the cops caught them, they would later be set free with their drugs. If a drug dealer can notice that things are tough in the city and some form of intervention is needed, then it means that the situation is really bad in Fresno.
Personally, I believe that I feel I have some sort of connection with the challenges that people from Fresno go through. While growing up, I did not have a happy childhood (grew up without a father) because my biological father was doing drugs from when I was a baby and even before I was born. Drugs impaired his judgment and, in most cases, he was an irrational decision maker. My mother, therefore, decided to leave him when I was one because she could not cope with his addiction and behavior. I felt bad, first because I grew up without my biological father, and second because there was nothing anyone could do to help him. Such problems normally start at the community level when people are still adolescents.
Just like Fresno, my dad was exposed to drugs at a young age and as such, it came to a time when he could not do without them. Some people may view it as a disgrace because they would not want to be associated with such a parent, but I have a different view of this issue. I believe that drug addiction is an epidemic just like any other disease, that needs to be treated from early stages. The fact that people tend to ignore and shun away drug addicts, worsens the situation because such people sink deeper into drugs ( Swartz, 2012 ). The government has also not done enough to solve this problem based on some laws that have been passed over the past decade.
From the video, it is evident that people have ignored the plight of the residents in Fresno because they believe there is no hope for them. They think that the problem only affects Fresno, but in the real sense, this is a nationwide epidemic. Everyone has a role to play as far as drug use is concerned because, at the end of the day, some kid in Chicago, or Florida would not have to grow up without a father as I did.
References
Garriott, W. C. (2011). Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in rural America . New York, N.Y: New York University Press.
Guy, J. (2018). Sheriff, U.S. attorney announce meth seizure, arrests. The Fresno Bee . Retrieved from https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article213556719.html [Accessed 8th April 2019].
Hansell, B. (2008). Meth Epidemic in America: Two New Surveys of US Counties: The Effect of Meth Abuse on Hospital Emergency Rooms'; and the Challenges of Treating Meth Abuse . DIANE Publishing.
Linnemann, T. (2016). Meth wars: Police, media, power . New York, NY: New York University Press.
Mehling, R., Triggle, D. J., & Triggle, D. J. (2008). Methamphetamine. Drugs . Broomall: Chelsea House.
Mulcahy, T. M., Huessy, J., & Brownstein, H. H. (n.d.). The Methamphetamine Industry in America: Transnational Cartels and Local Entrepreneurs (Critical Issues in Crime and Society) . Rutgers University Press.
Norquist, L., & Spalding, F. (2012). The truth about methamphetamine and crystal meth . New York: Rosen Pub.
Swartz, J. (2012). Substance abuse in America: A documentary and reference guide . Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood.
Vice (2019 Feb 21). The Crystal Meth Epidemic Plaguing Fresno. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxhyumdiVtw&t=97s
Williams, L. (2017). Ice age . Place of publication not identified: Scribe Publications.
