Book review: Methland

Around 2005, methamphetamine was noticed by the US national media. The drug was initially legal and was widely prescribed in the 1960s, but production simply went underground when it was banned, and meth had been eating into the fabric of rural life since the 1980s. Author Reding uses the town of Oelwein, Iowa (population 6,000) as the lens through which to explore meth's effects and how towns are trying to cope. Small towns face declining tax revenue as people move away, businesses close, and their population ages. Over the past few decades, agricultural conglomerates such as ADM have grown into vertically-integrated companies that are the only purchasers for crops, handle their own processing, and even their own shipping; this eliminates small business and reduces the multiplier effect of a single dollar. People need to work long hours to keep up, making a stimulant such as meth attractive. It's a dispiriting picture: while Oelwein is making steps toward better treatment programs and attracting new employers, these steps seem small transient improvements that will scarcely deflect an inexorable death spiral.