Theme and Content

What drives the conten t and threads the story together is the uniqueness of the American West. Long known for wide-open spaces, mountain vistas, trout streams and natural simplicity, the tentacles emerging from an explosion of methamphetamine manufacturing, usage and distribution is morphing the beauty and serenity of the landscape into an ugly portrait of greed and destruction. Specifically, this documentary examines the meth epidemic impact in rural areas of the Intermountain West. It focuses on inadequate, resource-stretched small town law enforcement efforts, vulnerable Native American populations, the burgeoning health care crisis that is affecting women, children, and their families, and the endangered children living day-to-day in methamphetamine’s toxic environments. Also at issue are the overburdened rural healthcare facilities and hospital emergency rooms, the environmental contamination from manufacturing methamphetamine in clandestine labs or in open spaces and greed versus safety as methamphetamine fuels the West’s oil and gas boom.

This groundbreaking documentary examines the rural, Intermountain West with heartfelt compassion for its loss of innocence and its struggle to accept the changing landscape. Indeed, much of the rural West is now face-to-face with blight and big city issues, Mexican drug cartels and horrific stories of methamphetamine abuse. The urban settings, the limitations of precursors and home meth labs so often reported by the news media combine to portray only one small part of the methamphetamine epidemic. The story of the methamphetamine crisis in rural America - specifically the American West - is a story focused on the devastation of families, individuals, children, ancient tribal rituals and the environment.