No Speed Limit: The Highs and Lows of Meth

by Frank Owen and Frank Owen

Book Overview

Hells Angels and fallen televangelist Ted Haggard. Cross-country truckers and suburban mothers. Trailer parks, gay sex clubs, college campuses, and military battlefields. In this fascinating book, Frank Owen traces the spread of methamphetamine--meth--from its origins as a cold and asthma remedy to the stimulant wiring every corner of American culture. Meth is the latest "epidemic" to attract the attention of law enforcement and the media, but like...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312356161
• ISBN13: 9780312356163
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Great read

The whole book was great, I really enjoyed the chapter with Uncle Fester.

Great information on meth

This book shows alot of factual information on meth written in a great point of view. i am a recoving addict and i felt this depected the way of life well letting you form your own opinions of how you should feel about the information given. i really really enjoyed reading

Great Book!

This is a good read and very informative for those who are concerned about this problem.

A very good overview.

As an academic I've been intensely studying the issue of methamphetamine for several years now and am impressed by the range of methamphetamine-related issues covered by the author -- everything from a bit of history, to its spread through the West, to cooking the drug, to treatment, and to the effects of policies designed to control it. As a journalist Owen has the skill to draw the reader in, unlike many academic writers. Now and then he states things with certainty that an academic would waffle on, but overall the book is on the mark. And, as a journalistic account there are brief periods of "over the top" comments, but they are mild compared with the comments often made by the authorities. For example, he correctly dismisses the idea that meth is instantly addictive and is an addiction from which recovery is rare. He also takes issue with using the word epidemic to describe the current problem -- though I would argue that a correct description would be that the drug has created a series of localized epidemics rather than a national one. This book is an excellent introduction to the issue. I wish the author had included more sources, but that's just the academic in me talking.

A great book to read for anyone interested in the subject

I thought this was the best book I have read on the subject of meth. It was unbiased and rationally put together. A very interesting book that was hard to put down.

A Downer For Those High On Hype

There never seems to be a shortage of books about drugs; and you could say that Frank Owen's, No Speed Limit, is merely one among the many. And, yes, this is true. It is one among many books written by authors who attempt to bring a rational voice to the oft irrational and unquestionably historic tendency of the media, politician's--and following suit--the public's susceptibility to react with panic concerning the issue of drug abuse (in this case, the latest drug crisis revolving around methamphetamine, or "meth") Do you remember the Crack epidemic? The Ecstasy epidemic? The Heroin epidemic? And, for all those old enough, the Alcohol crisis, which culminated in Prohibition? Owen's book is not only about the history of methamphetamine and the modern phenomenon of meth abuse in America, which is fascinating in and of itself, it's also about the nature of that ever-present hysterical phenomenon: the "drug epidemic," or what some sociologists have referred to as the "moral panic." This book has a fair mix of anecdotes, an interesting personal account of the drug's effects, statistics, and enough dispassionate reporting to please anyone interested in the topic at hand; in other words, it's wholly readable and reasonable. One of the principal strengths of the book is that Owen is not committing the same fallacies others have made and are still making concerning drug abuse; he is not giving into reasoning based on hyperbole, fear, and allegiance to an agenda at all costs. On the other hand, the author understands the fact of a kernel of truth inherent in every hype, but he makes a valiant effort to put it in its proper context. In fact, Owen himself has experienced firsthand just how bad methamphetamine can be and knows its potential for abuse and also understands the broader scope of problems that abuse of the drug can cause society. However, these points are tempered with the well-founded realization that not everyone who has used the drug is or will necessarily become a victim of it--there is too much proof otherwise. Drug abuse is a problem and the author is not denying it. That said, what Owen seems to be arguing, instead, is that since drug abuse is a problem, why make it worse with superfluous, fictional complexities. What is needed, he argues, is a levelheaded approach based on a broad understanding of the issue in its entirety, not one based on the end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it reaction we hear so often in the media (especially the media) and from our elected officials.