When Jeff Noble was the owner of, and I was a writer for, Monticello Live, he sent me an email with a scanned copy of the letter that was received by Camden School District. Since it should be obvious to most folks that writing for ML was not a full time job, nor a paying one, it wasn’t a situation where I could personally interview the sources used in the article. The next best thing was to research it online, and if anyone who has read and commented on this article has chased down the links provided, they would see that the information was obtained from major news outlets around the country. These sources, both in print media and on TV news reports all cited law enforcement personnel in places like California, Nevada and Missouri.

Also, while the “flavored” aspect of these reports have indeed turned out to be somewhat dubious, snopes.com reports that as recently as October of this year, law enforcement in North Carolina have been claiming to have confiscated crystal meth that both looks like strawberry candy and smells like strawberries.

Additionally, the non-law enforcement source cited in this article and interviewed on San Francisco’s CBS news affiliate, Dr. Alex Stalcup is a widely acclaimed expert in methamphetamine addiction. Here are some links where his credentials as a physician and drug addiction counselor, as well as his full resume may be viewed:
http://www.nltc.com/staff.html
http://www.nltc.com/drstalcupcurricu.html

While I completely understand the the questions that have been raised by those who have been commenting on this article, the fact that the sources cited were mostly local and state police themselves, leaves us all in quite a predicament when trying to ascertain the accuracy of any “expert” opinion coming from the law enforcement community.

So even though this story could not be worked as thoroughly as if written for a national publication, it was certainly not just thrown out there to see if any of it would stick to the proverbial wall or not.

There is no doubt drugs are bad. Nor is there any doubt that an asteroid impacting the Earth would be horrific. The question is: Do you want news sources, warning e-mails, and blogs filled with made up stories as long as they serve the general good? That’s not what news is about. News is about relaying the facts. When the news media ignore that in favor of ratings, then they diminish their credibility, which is probably why there is so much debate about Global Warming.

Picture this: You wake up to a news report that screams “Killer asteroid expected to impact Earth tomorrow!” only to discover the story is false. Do you then say, “Well, sure it’s false. But it got us talking about it.” Or do you say, “Why would anyone in their right mind write a story like that without checking their facts?”

I hope most people would opt for the latter.

Mac and Gimme a Break are absolutely right in their statements about the whole Strawberry Meth thing. Pink meth with a strawberry flavor has been found , but it doesn’t represent an outbreak or new fad. There is also no evidence that flavored drugs are being marketed to kids. And this is where Voice of Reason is correct: Although this hasn’t happened, it’s worth noting that drug dealers will stop and nothing and, having possibly seen the story about the “flavored” meth, might actually start the trend. But lets be sure that the facts don’t get lost in all of our good intentions.

So…

If there is some stupid chain letter floating around that will make us take the time to remind ourselves of the dangers our children are facing–then so be it. If it takes some stupid reporter not doing their job correctly to remind us, as a society, that our children are being targeted as the up-and-coming drug users– then so be it.

Stop worrying about whether or not it exists and take this opportunity to go look up some more information on how to speak with your children– regardless of their age– about not only saying “No” and reporting it, but talking about the effects of it and how to prevent themselves from getting into situations where it is around.

Take the time to simply TALK to your children. That’s something as a society that gets more and more neglected over the years. Maybe because we are all wasting our time reading chain letters about phantom drugs or maybe not.

So when someone can explain to me why it would be so terrible for anyone to panic over something that may or may not be real, but is causing enough worry to discuss drugs with our children–contact me.

Needless to say, I’m sure I won’t be hearing from any of you any time soon.

However, ccording to a June 22 article on that site:

“Flavored meth is somewhat akin to the Loch Ness Monster: everyone has heard of it, but firsthand sightings are hard to track down and verify. Various media reports around the U.S. have raised the alarm about the dangers of this new drug, but invariably concede that no cases have been reported locally.”

Most of the cases seem to stem from the Carson County (Nev.) sheriff’s office report of the substance’s discovery. Others have also reported it, but details admittedly do remain sketchy. At the time of this article, however, national news media were just beginning to report on it, and it did appear to be a verifiable story. Best we can now say is that the word is still out.