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Tracing the rise of methamphetamine from its days as a cure-all medication to drug scourge du jour, No Speed Limit: The Highs and Lows of Meth leaves even non-users with burning nostrils.

Veteran journalist and Playboy contributor Frank Owen presents a clear-eyed look at a problem that's infinitely more complex than the standard line of just say no and lock up those who don't. Interviews with current users, former addicts, meth cooks, DEA agents, psychologists, preachers and policy-makers lay out what Owen calls a "whack a mole" problem: that when new strategies are employed to eradicate production, crafty chemists, sophisticated dealers and determined tweakers pop up to fill the void. Owen weaves together stories from the various front lines into an urgent narrative that eschews sensationalistic hysteria.

The evolving chemical structure of the drug, and, more importantly, the process of manufacturing it from over-the-counter cold medicines and other easy-to-obtain chemicals, plays a heavy role. The engrossing saga encompasses Hell's Angels, powerful Mexican drug cartels, complicit German pharmaceutical companies and rural guys buying blister-packs of Sudafed by the pickup-load. The sheer volume of the drug seized in raids (often measured in tons) is a tiny fraction of what's out there, an almost-too-rudimentary example of supply and demand. Even with Owen's libertarian view that drug use (and abuse) are the choice of the individual, the book paints a bleak picture of small communities ravaged by the drug and law enforcement that is always one step behind.

Frank Owen