Meth Storm

"Meth Storm" (2017 release; 95 min.) is a documentary about the devastating effects of cheap and potent meth coming in from Mexico to overwhelm rural America. As the movie opens, we are reminded that meth production in the US has all but shut down, and that Mexican cartels were all too happy to fill in the gap. We then are in the midst of a high-speed car chase, as Arkansas DEA agents are on the heels of a drug dealer. Then we get to know a family in Van Buren County, AR, led by Veronica, now 43 and a meth addict. We witness her shooting up and it's not long before we get to know her two sons who are also addicts. Finally, we are introduced to Johnny, a local DEA guy who is part of Operation ICE Storm, a large effort to combat drug dealers. At this point we're 10 min, into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from documentarians Brent and Craig Renaud, who have tackled similar issues before ("Dope Sick Love", "Little Rock High: 50 Years Later"). The documentary picks up in 2014, when Operation ICE Storm develops, and covers the next 18-24 months. What we witness is hard to grasp and at times even hard to watch. Entire communities (mostly consisting of what one might call "white trash") seem engulfed in the meth storm. At one point Veronica's 26 yr. old son Teddy is released from yet another drug related stint in jail. They hug, drive home and immediately proceed to shooting up together, YES, right after his release! It blows the mind, and it made me cringe on more than one occasion. When Johnny (the DEA guy) reviews the list of people who are arrested at one point during Operation ICE Storm, he knows most of them personally, as he laments that he cannot stop the meth wave. At one point we get to know Teddy's 2 young daughters, I'm guessing 6 or 7 years old, and you can't help but feel very sorry for them. I just shook my head...

"Meth Storm" premiered recently as part of HBO's documentary series, and I caught it the other day at HBO on Demand. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but as this played out, I couldn't help but feel strangely removed from all this. I mean, is this really part of America? I don't pretend to know how to solve this issue (or, say, the opioid crisis that is so widespread), and I fear it will only gets worse before it gets better. Meanwhile, "Meth Storm" is a brutally honest documentary that is at times hard to watch but a eye-opener on so many levels.

"Meth Storm" focuses on the meth epidemic in the rural United States. Basically, these people have no prospects: there are no jobs, and so they'll continue to live in absolute squalor and do meth.

Notice how, when the crack epidemic affected African-Americans, they got called addicts, but now that the opioid epidemic has hit white people, it gets treated as an epidemic?

I've been sober for 33 years, and so the crack/meth/opiate epidemics have grown outside my radar. This film is shocking, utterly shocking. If this is happening throughout the heartland, how do we even have a population? You hear about it and read about how large an issue it is, but this film really brings it home. We are in serious trouble. These people are addicted to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sugar - they spend all day every day putting various types of poisons in their bodies. It's all they do - and you wonder why our national life expectancy is going down. Diabetes, overdose, heart disease, cancers due to tobacco use - and then add suicide to that. Wow what a gripping film.

Meth Storm

The film is a documentary on crystal meth addicts and dealers in Arkansas, during a period of time that the DEA was actively pursuing a way of halting production, or halting import, of the dangerous drug. It was called Operation Ice Storm named for the street slang for crystal meth.

It is heartbreaking to see the depths that these people will go just to make ends meet. The people they show being arrested, or using, are all in poverty, and they use the proceeds of their illegal sales to get by.

Addicts also beget addicts as some of the adult children of addicts also tried it and are now addicts. These adult children also have young children, and I worry for their safety. The documentary does not hold back in showing these real life situations. Some people have their faces blurred, but the majority do not.

This documentary is not for everyone. I can completely understand if this is a subject that one does not want to know about, but it exists. If you, or a loved one, is struggling with addiction, there is help, but it may not be enough.

"I'm not trying to be rude, nanny, but tell Dad he needs to make better choices"

"Meth Storm" is a disarmingly sweet documentary about a meth using family in Arkansas. You wouldn't think a documentary of this topic could be sweet, but it is. The family this documentary centers around is a mother, a step father and her three sons (?) and two daughters. The mother and her son's are meth addicts who have each served repeated times in jail. Most are without jobs, but somehow still find drugs and love to share with each other. Drugs and love is what passes between these family members, and it is both heartbreaking and redeeming to see. Heartbreaking to see the mother seem to teach addiction, but also redeeming for her to try to maintain a support system when that return to jail takes place. Her family is both of the more dysfunctional and compassionate one could hope to find. It's easy to judge her incapabilities but the documentary teaches you to try to be more respectful.

The people busting these families are also surprisingly respectful which seems rare to see. One phrase I remember is a police man (and mayor of a small town) hoping to be there "to help, not to hurt." I liked what he had to say to the people he busted.

"Meth Storm" is not exploitive of this meth addicted family, although it does show many kinds of nitty gritty which speaks of a rare kind of trust between filmmaker and subject more than anything. For this quality I commend this documentary, although for most people it will be entirely not what they expect. If you want to spend an hour of your life judging some meth addicted "white trash" people, unfortunately "Meth Storm" is not for you. It's not until the end of the film that the mother's rape becomes even hinted at. There's no glorification of the unfortunate here. This is a wise and hopeful documentary with a lot of humanity.

Criticisms because the title doesn't necessarily reflect what the documentary is really about. This is more of a portrait of a family and one police officer rather than a documentary about meth on any kind of grand scale. There is not really any violence either as might be expected from the nature of the word "storm." "Meth Storm" is decidedly mellow, and I liked the change of pace.