Rural America Under the Influence

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Dalton Booker, 7, joins his mother and other members of the grassroots anti-drug movement Community Residents Against Drug Dealers (C-RADD) as they hold a protest near downtown Clintwood, VA, Friday March 4, 2005, to draw attention to the problem of prescription and illegal drug abuse in their communities.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Dorothy M. Hay sits in her cell for a portrait at the Dickenson County Jail in Clintwood, VA, Wednesday February 9, 2005. Dorothy was recently sentenced to ten years in prison for distribution. Her son Stacey Hay is also currently serving time in the same jail on similar charges.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Edith Dotson (left) and her son Bobby talk about her 16 year-old grandson Jmmy Pennington's death, at her home in Clintwood, VA, Tuesday February 22, 2005, where he died from an overdose of morphine on January 3, 2005. She and her family say they are seeking answers from law officials, to questions which they say are being unanswered. As of today, they say they have not been given an autopsy report, toxicology report or a police report. Jmmy was a student at Clintwood High School and was given four morphine pills by another student to take. After making his way back home from school, he laid on his bed and died.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, tires and other debris are disposed of by the roadside, with nature partially hiding them along Dante Mountain Road on the outskirts of Trammel, VA, February 22, 2005.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

A man is in handcuffs at the Dickenson County Jail in Clintwood, VA, Tuesday afternoon February 8, 2005, after he and two others were arrested this morning for buying prescription drugs from an undercover agent.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

The streets are empty in the small coal mining town of Trammel, VA, February 22, 2005. The town has dried up, leaving no stores, gas stations, not even a post office. While the unemployment numbers in the county in recent years has reached double digits, Trammel's numbers are at nearly 100 percent, with about 56 percent of the town on disability.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

In her trailer, a woman snorts a Lortab 7.5 pill which was crushed into a fine powder, in Dickenson County, VA, Friday afternoon March 4, 2005. This pill is 7 mg of hydrocodone and 500 mg of acetaminophen. While other neighboring counties are experiencing a surge in meth labs and use, Dickenson County is still faced with their number one problem, prescription drug abuse.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

As a Clintwood Sheriff vehicle passes by, Debbie Stanley holds a sign with a photo of her son Jessee James Stanley as she joins other members of the grassroots anti-drug movement Community Residents Against Drug Dealers (C-RADD) as they hold a protest near downtown Clintwood, VA, Friday March 4, 2005, to draw attention to the problem of prescription and illegal drug abuse in their communities. Debbie's son Jessee died from an over dose of prescription drugs on June 17, 2004. What started out as a few founding members in July of 2004, has sprouted into smaller groups in near by towns. While other neighboring counties are experiencing a surge in meth labs and use, Dickenson County is still faced with their number one problem, prescription drugs.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

A letter remains on a table in a room at a Budget Inn in Smith County, VA, Thursday March 3, 2005, three days after a meth lab exploded destroying this room and the one next door.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

An ambulance speeds along a highway in rural Kentucky Wednesday February 9, 2005.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Sherry Deel wipes away her tears as she talks about her mother's condition in the last part of her life, at her home in Dickenson County, VA, Sunday March 6, 2005. Her mother Goldie Baldwin, died at the age of 52 on December 16, 1997. Sherry says her mother was severely addicted to prescription drugs, and also said that her mother's doctor told her that her mother died from blood clots caused by the use of morphine and prescription drugs. Sherry has the empty bottles of prescription drugs dating back to 1991, nearly every single one has the name Dr. James Senter on it.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Recovering meth addict Kenneth Meredith, Jr., takes time for a portrait and talks about his addiction to meth and his methods for cooking it. Also, showing the tracks on his arms from shooting up at LifeSkills, Inc., a recovery clinic in Bowling Green, KY, February 10, 2005.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

McMinn County Sheriff deputy Kenneth Pruett carries items used to manufacture methamphetamine from a lab inside of a home at 276 County Road 130 in Athens, TN, Friday March 18, 2005. The defendants Ed Guffey and Jana Maxwell were not in the house at the time officers arrived. Athens is in McMinn County is in what used to be traditional moonshine country.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Neighbors Kay Davis (right) and Mary Clayton cover their faces because of the strong odors coming from a methamphetamine lab and watches as members of the South/East Methamphetamine Task Force and the McMinn County Sheriff's office respond to disassemble a methamphetamine lab inside a home at 276 County Road 130 in Athens, TN, Friday March 18, 2005. Athens is in McMinn County is in what used to be traditional moonshine country.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

This is the scene of the remains of a home on Grimes Road in Bowling Green, KY, February 10, 2005, which was destroyed in an explosion on February 9, 2005, which law enforcement officials believe was caused by a meth lab there.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

A photo on the wall is among the remains in a home on Grimes Road in Bowling Green, KY, February 10, 2005, which was destroyed in an explosion on February 9, 2005, which law enforcement officials believe was caused by a meth lab there, though the results of tests are still pending.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Grundy County Sheriff Robert Meeks talks about a case on his cell phone as members of the South/East Methamphetamine Task Force and other agencies make a stop at a home in Grundy County, TN, on the Cumberland Plateau near Chattanooga, TN, Thursday March 17, 2005, in search of meth labs in the area. Grundy County is located on the Cumberland Plateau, and is in what used to be traditional moonshine country.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Former methamphetamine addict Charlotte Sanders (second from left) Renay Dillinger (left) and inmate Toni Jone (right) pray with Charlotte's sister Donna Harris (second from right) who is incarcerated, during a service of God's Jail Ministry, of which Charlotte is a member, at the Putnam County Jail in Cookeville, TN, Sunday March 20, 2005. Charlotte lost custody of her two daughters because of her addiction to methamphetamine. Hitting rock bottom and being incarcerated herself, she found religion and has been clean for three years and has regained custody of her daughters. Her addiction to methamphetamine spanned 10 1/2 years. Her story is one of a huge success as up to 95% of people who quit and even go through rehab end up back on the drug.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Wanda Stanley joins her daughter Debbie Stanley (not in photo) at the grave of Debbie's son Jessee James Stanley on the one-year anniversary of his death from an overdose of prescription drugs in Dickenson County, VA, Friday June 17, 2005.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Debbie Stanley (left) holds her sister Sharon Stanley as the two visit the grave of Debbie's son Jessee James Stanley in Dickenson County, VA, Friday June 17, 2005, on the one-year anniversary of his death from an overdose of prescription drugs. Jessee died in his trailer home in the nearby town of Haysi, VA. It is alleged that his girlfriend and infant daughter were in the trailer with him at the time, but she nor anybody else called 911 for medical help as he lay dying. His mother Debbie Stanley says that paramedics told her that he could have been saved if given medical attention in a timely manner.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

W.C. Phillips joins friends to play music during a birthday party picnic for his grandson Dalton Booker, 8, in St. Paul, VA, Saturday June 18, 2005. Dalton's mother Amy Booker is a recovering addict of prescription drugs.

Rural America Under the Influence:  The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Rural America Under the Influence: The effects of prescription and meth addiction

Amy Booker sits with her grandmother Celia King during a birthday party picnic for her son Dalton Booker, 8, in St. Paul, VA, Saturday June 18, 2005. Amy Booker is a recovering addict of prescription drugs.

Rural America Under the Influence:

The effects of prescription drug and meth addiction

Photography by Rod Lamkey Jr.

In southwest Virginia, amongst the graves, a soft weeping can be heard through the rustle of leaves in the trees. Debbie Stanley is bowed down, crying on the gravestone of her son, Jessee James Stanley, on the one-year anniversary of his death. As Jessee lay dying from an overdose of prescription drugs, neither his girlfriend nor their friends in the trailer with them that night bothered to call for help. One more life drowned in the oceans of prescription pills which flooded rural communities with the help of local doctors and big pharma. Everyone knew someone who was affected by this epidemic.

This is the land of Ralph Stanley, mountain music and the lore of the coal miners. The booming industry which brought economic success, hope and financial stability to thousands of families, but would one day dry up and leave scores of men scarred from black lung disease and limb losing accidents. 

Trammel, Virginia is one of those towns which dried up: Not one store, gas station, not even a post office. Prescription drugs have become a kind of currency: people bartering for OxyContin and lawn mowers take place in the darkened doorways of abandoned homes now overgrown with weeds. While the unemployment numbers in the county in recent years has reached double digits, Trammel’s numbers are at nearly 100 percent, with about 56 percent of the town on disability.

Residents here in Dickenson County, Virginia, determined to save what’s left of their rural peoples, created Community Residents Against Drug Dealing (CRADD) with the hopes of bringing an end of this deadly 

epidemic and saving lives in Dickenson County, which continues to be in the grip of diverted prescription drug abuse. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, persons below poverty in Dickenson County was at 21.3% in 1999, compared with 9.6% for the state of Virginia.

Under a clear blue sky on a tree-lined street in Knoxville, Tennesse, Marylin Kennedy and her sister Brenda Drennon are put in handcuffs and arrested by Knox County Sheriff deputies, on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine at Brenda’s residence. The two sisters were cooking meth inside the very home where children lived. The entire home and it’s contents contaminated with the toxic chemicals used in making the highly addictive and deadly homemade drug. 

Knoxville is in what used to be traditional moonshine country. Law enforcement officials are fighting a war against small mom and pop methamphetamine labs. A modern-day moonshine, it’s cheap, easy to make and deadly.

Today law enforcement officials are fighting a war against small mom and pop meth labs. The U.S. Census Bureau put persons below poverty in Grundy County at 25.8% for 1999, compared to 13.5% for the state of Tennessee.

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