An Essay on Methland - 1094 Words

Methland, Markets, and Massacres â€Å"If ever there was a chance to see the place of the small American town in the era of the global economy, the meth epidemic is it† (Reding, 16). The town of Oelwein in Nick Redding’s book Methland, through its illicit involvement in the meth epidemic, serves as a painful example to the effectiveness of this â€Å"global economy,† or in terms of the subject of this essay, the modern national-level market. The concept of a market is one that Meredith L. McGill tactfully delves into in her essay Market; the concepts from her essay will be used to analyze the specific market for meth in the book Methland. SUMMARY OF ESSAY The essay in question offers historical background and context to the current meaning of a†¦show more content†¦Jobs quickly became scarce and underpaid. This change forced those who had jobs to work long straining hours. Redding writes that â€Å"The truly singular aspect of meth’s attractiveness is that since its first wide scale abuse†¦meth has been associated with hard work.† (Redding, 16). Because of its effectiveness to sustain an individual through days of sleepless labor, demand was high. Like mentioned previously, where there is high demand and ability to supply, the dynamics of the â€Å"new† market begin to take full effect. An interesting aspect of the meth market in the book Methland, and one that ties into McGills definition of market, were the different components of the meth distribution system which networked together to make it all work. McGill notes in her essay that on unique and often beneficial attribute of the modern market is that it is not regulated. This allows for a system which seeks to achieve maximum efficiency and, if a suitable supply and demand is established, the system will, on a large scale, form a network of independent components which ultimately compose a whole body – not necessarily managed yet extremely effective. This pattern is seen in Methland. The main components of the meth market – within and without Oelwein – were the outside suppliers and distributers, local meth â€Å"cooks,† and customers – i.e. addicts. In the book these all worked together with the same magnitude of efficiency