Meth at The Gazette? Vanessa Miller Shows Signs in Iowa

Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Gazette reporter Vanessa Miller exhibited visible signs of long term methamphetamine use this past week by publishing undeniable proof of delusional thinking in her own words for all the world to see. This tragic incident captures the personal story of a woman likely caught at the crossroads between meth abuse and mental illness on a collision course with disaster.

In 2011 alone methamphetamine lab busts in the United States increased nationwide and Iowa ranked 7th in the nation for total meth lab busts(1) despite being ranked 30th in total population(2) showing a highly disproportional ratio of meth abuse to normal behavior in Iowa relative to other states. Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant(3) known to have numerous psychological side effects even after short term use including delusions, excessive feelings of power, and invincibility(4) as well as long terms side effects including psychosis in 20 percent of addicts(5). Possession of methamphetamine is a felony in the state of Iowa (6).

Symptoms of Methamphetamine psychosis resemble that of Schizophrenia including delusional beliefs. Psychosis can cause numerous combinations of primary and secondary delusions. Primary delusions typically arise suddenly in ways that normal mental processes cannot comprehend while secondary delusions are typically influenced by any combination of personal background, beliefs, or the current situation of the sufferer(6). In both cases delusions manifest themselves as beliefs held in strong conviction despite strong evidence to the contrary and are always the result of a mental illness or illness process(7).

On February 29, 2012 Vanessa Miller published an article called "Internet transforming libel landscape" (see link above this article) for which she interviewed the owner of a controversial website before putting the statement "The site - which TheGazette.com chose not to name to avoid encouraging activity there" where the URL should have been in the article. That decision combined with the inclusion of language about what that one of a kind website does and the name of its owner indicates that Miller was operating under the delusion that she could engage in good journalism while failing to properly cite her sources and that her unethical actions would prevent her article from increasing traffic to that website, but was too far gone in her state of self-righteousness to realize the ultimate uselessness of her actions or consider the consequences of such senselessness.

Vanessa Miller may have fooled some readers into thinking that her failure to properly cite a source would prevent people from finding it, but by including the full name of the site’s owner and terms unique to his service she put the site just one Google search away for any reader truly interested in using it. Exactly how Vanessa Miller became delusional to the point of thinking that the publication of that article would "avoid encouraging activity" on that site is unknown, but methamphetamine is more likely to be the cause than it could be most elsewhere with the only other explanation being an unknown mental agitator.

Learn more about meth psychosis at http://www.methproject.org/answers/what-is-meth-induced-psychosis.html#Psychotic-Behavior

Sources:

1. http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/u-s-meth-lab-busts-up-in-iowa-ranks-th/article_bbd5ef7a-5d8c-11e1-bbf4-0019bb2963f4.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_population

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine#Psychological

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine#Long-term

6. http://www2.legis.state.ia.us/IACODE/1997/124/401.html

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosis#Delusions

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusion