Queen of Meth (2021): Season 1, Episode 2 - Art of the Dealer - full transcript

The use of methamphetamine
has sky rocketed over
the past several years.

Boredom, loneliness,
self-esteem.

When you do the drug,
all that disappears.

She was a major
supplier making $200,000
or more a week.

Taking a journey
back to Ottumwa, Iowa,

where everything went down
30 years ago.

Remember this place?

Oh, my God!

Lori Stockdall was
addicted to alcohol at 14,

as a result of her
mother's influence.

Lori needs to get fucking
angry at my mom.



Feel the pain of
what happen to her.

What she did was wrong.

-You know...
-No, no, she ruined her life!

She became a
big-time drug dealer,

well, fuck right.

I was tired of living
life struggling,

thought I deserved
something, you know.

And then I got a way
you can make a little money.

Methamphetamine.

When it hit it's like,
all right I like this.

And it just started to
snowball.

This is me and
my husband Floyd.

We are at the river cabin.

This is Josh
when he was little.



It was hard living.

We're broke, I mean
we can't afford to
go anywhere.

Can't afford anything, really.

I don't know.
I was just stuck in a rut,

and didn't know
how to get out.

So when Floyd's brother
Mike came down

and the meth opportunity came,

it just... I don't know.
It just rocked my world.

When you do the drug,
and you feel more calm,

you feel tougher,
you feel involved,

you're more social.

Gave me so much energy
and competence and
people loved it

because it got him
out of their boredom
and depression.

Floyd's brother Mike
brought me down some more

and then he said,
"you know what, instead of
me just bring it down.

Let me introduce you
to the guy I get it from."

This guy pulled up in
my driveway in a
white corvette

and I'm like, "Wow,
that's nice car.

I'd love to have a
car like that."

He has the keys in his hand
and a quarter pound
in the other hand.

He said, "Here." He gave me
the keys, he gave me the
quarter pound, he goes

"Sell that, car's yours."

It's like something
you can't turn down.
It was too good to be true.

Well, the quarter pound
didn't last a long time.

It hit so hard around town,
everybody wanted more.

They had people walk up,
they just spread like
wildfire.

Lori always
had a lot of friends.

Especially when she was
selling drugs, she was
extremely popular.

It felt amazing.

Absolute magical cure
for alcoholism

because you're so high
you know you are not
gonna get drugged.

It felt like I finally
had the answer.

It's kind of pretty
addictive right
from the get go.

You do a little line
and stay up for three,
four days you know

so it's more bang
for your buck.
I just wanted more.

I couldn't sell enough.
You know, 25 bucks here,
25 bucks there.

It might've just came in
so fast

so I'm getting all this
money and I have
nowhere to put it.

Didn't have a bank account
or anything, I didn't have
a safe, but I had this

cheap paneling
in my cabin,

that wasn't nailed right,
so it's kind of stuck
out little bit,

so I started stuffing money
in there.

And I started making pretty
good money. My wall was
bulging for a while.

I thought well,

you know, I can kind
of do the same thing
for my friends

so they can make
a little extra money.

Lori just asked me
if I was interested in
having my own,

and I said,
"well sure, why not."

She front it to me
and I paid for,
what I paid for it.

And then partied with
the rest, that's what I
thought I was supposed to do.

They gave me some to sell,
because they love me

and they're making money
and they wanted me to
make money.

You know, as a welfare
mom before meth came in town.

Now all of a sudden we got
spending money. You know,
it felt really good.

Don't tell me that money
doesn't bring happiness
because it does.

And it did us.

Everybody was making money.

Everybody liked it,
everybody's having fun.

Selling drugs came
fairly easy to me.

Yeah, she moving her
way up.

"Oh, man, this
feels good.

I got people working for me.

Oh, we can do better,
I can make more money

get more drugs."

We were starting to
sell so much of it

and the guy that we
were getting
it from locally,

said he was going
to introduce us to his guy,

and his guy was
out in California.

And he was involved
with the Mexican cartel.

So Floyd went
and met the big supplier

because Floyd was
very intimidating.

He was badass
and he looked badass.

He knew how to talk
to big people.

Floyd is a real deal.

Floyd would be bad
to fight with.

Lori was the brains
and mathematician and
all that stuff

and Floyd was just the muscle.

She was intelligent enough
to know how to make
money work for her.

She became the brains
of this big drug operation

where she had this
badass biker husband of hers
do her bidding.

Everybody used to say,

"no guts no glory,
no Floyd, no Lori."

We got involved
with the Mexican cartel,

because we could actually
get pretty good deals
with them.

We started out with
one pound for $10,000.

I can turn it around to
$40,000 when I got
back with it.

Some, they would
hold in from Mexico.

But they set up their
own lab in California
for making it.

So it seemed to be even
better than what was
coming across the border.

This stuff was so good
that you had to cut it,

because it was too pure.

We didn't want
anybody get hurt

so we made sure when
we gave it to people
selling for us

we also gave them the
correct cut to cut it with,

so it would tamper it
down just a little bit

so nobody would OD
or anything like that.

It was gone too quick.

We had to turn around
and go right back the
next week

but we had enough profit
from that one pound
to get two pounds.

But then one time
we're needing a lot more
and the trips.

Every time you go out,
you know, it's a
three day driving thing.

There's a constant
back and forth,
back and forth.

So then we brought in
other people that we trusted

to move bigger
amounts themselves

so Floyd wouldn't have
to go every time.

We didn't want to
get detected by anyone

seeing us in the same vehicle
that went out to California
and Phoenix,

Arizona and you know
places like that.

So we bought a piece of land,
laid a slab.

Built a building
to work on our vehicles.

Put a car lot in there,
S&S Enterprises,

Went to auctions.
Got some decent cars,

and hired a couple of guys to
work in the shop, fix it up
so we could sell it.

Because of the low
price, big cars are once again
selling in a big way.

Lend them to my friends
because they needed vehicles,

I just sell 50 bucks
a month, whatever
they gave for it.

Ya, she gave my mom a car
she give me one.

Mine was a little
five speed Mazda.

I was buying a car
from her and Floyd

I think I only gave
her maybe like $500.

We can also
switch out cars if we need
to go to California

because the same car
going out might be
a bad thing.

So we wanted to kind of
switch it out and use
different vehicles too.

We started getting five
pounds couple of times each
month in California.

I had a guy that I dealt
with about 20 miles
away from town.

I would call him up,

because he was always
good for the money,
always wanted good quantity.

It was just a quick turnover.

So I'd say something about,
"Hey, I'm gonna come
over tonight

I'll bring pizza.
How many piece do you want?"

You know, how many
pounds of dope you want?

Two.

Okay.

Well, first I got to do
some errands, stop at
the store,

something new meet me
at the constant easy in
and out.

He didn't know people
around here.

He didn't deal around here,
he has his own territory.

We'd have people coming
in from Illinois, Missouri,
Kansas...

buying it and taking
it back up.

This spread out pretty good.

She had something
everybody wanted.

Everybody else really
loves you more than
they ever did.

You know, looking back
on it, it was very fake

but it sure didn't seem
like it at the time.

You know, got to where
everybody and their
brother wanted a lot of it.

I started thinking,
you know what,
I got money now,

I need to do
something with it

so I don't have
to sell the drugs.

I always wanted my own bar

and the union station
was going up for sale.

I bought it for
40 grand, fully stocked.

I just wanted people
to have a place to go,

that could have a good time,
leave their cares behind

and just enjoy themselves.

Miss this place.

Bar, bathroom and
dance floors over here.

Had a big ol' shuffle
board table on the wall,

somebody want to play
shuffleboard.

Office is in the back.

I named it "The Wild Side."

'Cause Floyd like westerns,
we watching a western,

called Wild Side.
And I thought,

"man, that is a perfect
name for bar."

Lori's was a real biker bar,

an actual biker bar.

Friday night, you park right
out front, walk-in.

Bike from here,
bike from here,
bikes around the corner.

It was a popular bar,
it was a good bar.

I wanted some place
that everybody felt welcome.

We're bikers, you know,
they're just a different
breed of people.

They want to wear
their jeans and leathers,

come in and drink
and have a good time.

The rule is in the bar,
if she had fun,
everybody had fun.

I love socializing,
I love people,

so I hired a lot
of my friends.

My friend Lisa, now she's
seen me in all different
walks of life.

When I started
working there,
the people I met there

were decent, normal people.

Of course, they got
leather coats on,

some of them with
big beards and longer hair,

that was normal back then.

I was needing a job,

Lori was looking for
trustworthy bartenders,

ones that weren't
ripping her off every time
she turned around.

'Cause if you don't know about
the bar business,
the bartenders steal blind.

Yeah, this is where

come in my backdoor,
we had the bandstand.

It was raised up so the
band was set up a little
higher than everyone.

She would hire these
really good bands to
come in there,

and thne place would just be
packed with people, you know.

A play-room
for dancing,

had tables and
chairs set up here.

I had a little microphone
behind the bar.

I'd sing along with the band
once in a while

whether they wanted
me to or not.

I can't sing.

Lori would have
Halloween parties and

that was like her big deal
to try to fool everybody.

This is me dressing...
dressed up for Halloween.

I got the wig and I got heels
and I'm wearing a dress and
it's slit up the side.

Looking sexy
and all this stuff.

So I walked up
to the bandstand,

and said to the
drummer, I said

Hi Rogers.
He goes, "hey Lori."

I'm like, "how'd you know it
was me?" "Because I watched
you walk up here."

She walks
like a truck driver.

Lori don't do that in
mage costume.

If there was trouble at the
Wild Side, they handle
everything in house.

Floyd was the
muscle and power.

In case I needed it.

I mean, I pretty much
handle my own,
but men,

you know, don't respect woman
running shit.

Right away.

He sat at the end of the bar,

his beard was long, and
hung down over his
arms and he just...

turned his head.

He would be one
end of the bar,

I would be at the other,
and you'd just see
him pulsating.

He wanted to murder me.

And Lori would be
between use like, calm down,

Floyd get back and
she will be like,

Tommy, shut the fuck up.

Tom used to come
down to see me,
he went to Minneapolis.

Then he started
doing standup.

You like, amateur nights
and stuff like that,

when they had contests
in different bars, up there.

Nobody will go with me,
I had to go to my
senior prom with my sister.

And, you know, everybody else
is making out so,

I tackled her, farted
on her head.

So, it turned out okay.

He won a couple, and then,

he met Roseanne,

she was up there
listening to him, one time.

I left Ottumwa because
the job I wanted to do,

was at Hollywood.

I met Roseanne
when I was 23.

I was her middle act
at comedy gallery,

and so we hit it off.

She liked his style and
asked if he's interested in,

maybe coming to write for,

for Roseanne show.

Al little quick to the draw.
She screws up
a little bit.

She thought I was funny
which is,

what you really want a woman
to think about you because,

all men know
we're good looking
so, we already got that.

Leave me alone!

I said, Tommy,
are you fucking her?

He's like, "no, no."

Roseanne and I,
I don't know you read,

we are the perfect couple.

he like, would you?
I'm like,

hell yeah, think her worth's
like $50 million.

We like the same movies,
read the same books.

We wear the same size pants,
we're perfect couple, folks.

This picture is the picture
of me and Roseanne.

This is the...

weekend they came to town and
then came down to my bar.

She thought Lori was fun.

She thought
Lori's friends were fun.

We'd get up,
would my bands and play drums.

And when Roseanne
came with him, she actually
get up and sing,

first we all know
she can't sing,

so she get up there dry,
and everybody was, you know,

thought it was cool,
because she was a huge
star back then.

Everybody had fun here,
I don't care,

they're rich, poor,
they did drugs,
and I didn't do drugs,

they were country,
they were rock.

It's just like
a neighborhood bar.

Anybody, and everybody
came to the Wild side,

lot of bikers,
lot of lawyers,

couple of judges
coming in all the time.

Police officers even
come in here, off duty.

People knew what went
on in theWild Side.

And the cops knew.
It wasn't no big secret.

They'd pass it
through envelops,

and through paper cups,
and matchboxs,

or we do it outside or
go to the bathroom and do it.

I just told them,
I don't wanna see it.

'Cause I always
had this worry,

about cops or feds or

snitches or, you know.

You always have
that in your mind.

You know, I was
planning on quitting,
but you know

just like with any addiction,
once you're in,

it's hard to get out.

It's a power thing,
it really is.

I mean I'm an addict.

I get addicted to a lot of
different things, not
just drugs.

Sad to see it like this.

I mean, the fun, excitement,

just, I just miss it.

The only problem
with the bar, was Floyd.

Floyd had a lot of names.

He was a sniper, in Vietnam.

in the green bridge.

He got shot and got released
from the service.

A lot of the Grimm Reapers
were meet on bar.

Vietnam really
screwed his head up.

But the demons wouldn't
come out unless he drank.

And somebody mentioned war.

But every time
he was drinking,

and the war stuff started,

I was the one that
got beat up.

If he start drinking
hard liquor,

then you know, you never knew
what was gonna happen.

But usually, it was Lori
that bore the brunt of it.

You know, one minute you might
all be partying, next minute,

you know, he is dragging
around the door by the hair.

He back ended her time.

My eyes just got that
big around, what am I
gonna do?

You know, he could
rip me in half.

We just did our best
to try to keep Floyd in line.

We would tube him,
with some meth,

put some in his drink.

Then he wouldn't be drunk and
he would start talking more,

it was kind of like the
insecure, you know, for Floyd.

I was home with Josh,

and I got a call
from Scott Edmond

telling me that Floyd was
drinking whiskey.

He's heading home drunk
and pissed off,

he just walked in said,

How many do you want?

And I'm like, how many what?

He goes, bullets.

So he storms in the
other room where
his guns were,

when he did, I grabbed Josh.

And headed out the door,

and I went around my car
to get into the driver side,

and Floyd appeared
on the deck,

with his rifle.

He just shot and
hit the hood of the car,

I ducked down with
Josh behind the wheel.

And he shot again,

I started yelling, oh my, God,
you hit Josh, you hit Josh.

And he stopped shooting.

And when he stopped,
I just took off, I just ran.

Josh was young.
He didn't talk much.

It's hard to make sense out of
something like that.

She came over the
next day and,

she was hiding from him,
and so we were both scared.

You know there's
very few times,

I have seen Lori cry.

I don't know if it's
stubbornness or I don't know
if it's just the abuse.

Wife syndrome thing, because
lot of wives don't leave
the abusive husband.

Or if it was just,
I felt sorry for him.

When he was sorry
the next day, he didn't
remember,

he needed me there.

You know, to take care of him.

Wasn't like an everyday thing
or every week.

But when it was,
he was either shooting at me,
trying to run me over the car.

It's just something
snapped in him.

So...

Can't understand it.

In describing her abuse
her effect, was flat.

She stated, I don't get
mad at people.

I don't let things get to me.

This is a typical response of
a post-traumatic stress and
battered wife syndrome,

where individuals can
experience a disconnectedness,

and a deep personalization,

and psychological numbing.

Do you think
you are psychologically numb?

Yes.

I block things out.

I keep things inside.

In not attempting to escape,

she also participated
in anything that would help

her relationship be calm
and sedate

without the beatings.

I didn't want Floyd involved
in the bar.

So I had to find
something that he liked

but also stay out of my way.

So, I went looking for a ranch

'cause he always
wanted horses.

We are at my ranch

in Ottumwa, Iowa.

I bought this place in 1988,

paid $55,000.

It's a beautiful area.

It's 150 acres.

I surprised Floyd with it
'cause he didn't know about it

until I already purchased it.

So, I came out here
and showed it to him, and...

we call it
Rolling Hills ranch.

because of the rolling hills.

We used our meth money
to buy everything, obviously.

We started with two horses,

we ended up with 52.

We were racing
and training them.

Hired Scott Edmond
to do most of the grunt work,

'cause he was really good
and he was a hard worker.

And he loved the horses.

Floyd says,
"Can you do a duck walk?"

I said, "What do you mean
'Do a duck walk'?"

He said, "I'm looking
for somebody

to train my horses."

He said, "I can't do it

because I'm too big
and too old."

So, he had me duck-walking,

which is where you squat
down on your knees,

or by your knees,
and squat-walk.

Which will build up
your knees. I did that

for so long.

I built that barn right there

so Scott could put
the racehorses

in nice, clean stalls.

Well...

here we go.

-All these stalls are empty.
-Oh, I know.

I put a lot of money
into the racehorses,

hoping to get money back out.

But the more stuff you have,
the more it costs you.

So it took more money.

So I had to keep selling meth.

I didn't have time
to really reflect

on what I was doing
or anything.

But I was
starting to enjoy it.

We made 100,000 here,
100,000 there.

I'd carry around twenty grand
in my purse

just for spare change,
type-thing.

And people with money,
they get more respect

than people
that don't have it.

The thing that
I remember most about Lori is

she used to drive around
in really flashy cars.

And like, all young girls
would see her in those cars

and be like,
"Oh, I want that car."

So, I'm driving
in the East End

I see this big, red Jaguar

and I was like, "Whoa!"

And then
here's Lori out there,

hosing this thing off.

They told her
nobody in this town

has a Jaguar.

I said, "Why don't
you get a vanity plate

that says "Fuck me," you know.

I had
a little Mazda RX-7.

And so, you know, she used
to come pulled up in that,

and I'd just pull up
next to her.

I said to her one time, I said

"Oh, Lori, somebody just said

that my car looked
better than yours."

"No, they did not. No way!"

We'd just
race around town

and we'd race the cops.

She never won.
She didn't ever win.

I always won them, though.

She cheated. She tried
to run me off the damn road.

No, I didn't. I tried.

I tried to win, but...

no. Her car was
a pretty nice one.

They had everything.

Just had everything, and...

I'm living in some dive.

To say I wasn't jealous
would be a lie.

'Cause of course I was.

A lot of my friends
were on welfare,

had little kids.

And I thought, "Well,
you know what,

I'll get into real estate."

If I buy a house pretty cheap,
I can fix it up,

and sell it to my friends
on payment.

So, I started buying houses,
like at auctions and stuff.

And I'd put them
on Section eight housing.

So I was getting
government checks

for each house.

And I was taking that check

and using it
as a house payment

for my friends.

So they would own the house

once I had what I paid for it.

I wanted them
to own their own home.

She knew that
I'd just had a baby

and asked me if I, you know,
needed a place to live,

and I said, "Sure, yeah."

She said, "Well, I got a place
that we can remodel,

and you and your husband
and daughter can live there."

I needed a place
to stay at one time,

and she had just
bought this house,

so I moved in there.

Lori was always
really generous. I mean,

she always did a lot of things
for all of the community.

It was like, almost like,
I don't know,

a Robin-Hood scenario,
kind of. You know?

All this meth comes in

and goes in to the rental,
you know, housing industry.

It goes into licensing,

and insurance, taxes,

uh, social security.

I mean, all this money I made
I spent in the same house.

I bought houses
in the same town.

I employed people
in that town.

So, money was
being spread out.

I always helped my friends
and everything else

but I don't know if I thought
my friends were needy,

'cause they didn't have a lot,

so I was helping them,
or if I was the needy one

and helping them made
me feel better.

I didn't want to be
a drug dealer all my life.

But once you have
so much stuff,

like the bar, and the car lot,
the ranch,

you're paying a lot.

It just snowballs, you know?

We were needing
a lot more quantity.

My first ten-pound batch.

I had two guys go out
and get it.

The driver liked
to smoke pot.

So, while he was out there,
he picked up a pound of pot.

He had the ten pounds
of meth in a bag

with like, hamburger wrappers

and stuff on top,
trash on top of it.

They got stopped
on the way back in Utah.

Some kind of a roadblock check
or something.

And the dog smelled
the marijuana.

They open the trunk,
there there was pot

underneath the spare tire.

So, then they tore
the car apart

and found the ten pounds
of meth.

They took him
to the jail there in Utah.

I had to hire a bondsman

and come up with $50,000

to get him out of jail,
and hire a lawyer.

They ended up doing 30 days.

But then we just thought,
"Okay, well,

we got lucky on that one."

And that cost us
150 grand, right there.

Plus, they had ten pounds
of dope in the car

and a pound of weed.

We lost all the money,
so we needed to do something

to build it back up,

and not have to travel
across the country.

That was kind of
our turning point right there.

And we decided to cook our own
on our property

so we didn't have
to drive to California

you know, to get it.

So, I ended up hiring
my own chemist

and ordered a whole meth lab
out of the catalog.

So, we got the catalog out,
start ordering everything,

and I just ordered
under our S&S Enterprises

with my car lot name.

They deliverED
the equipment by UPS.

We put it all together.

And the lab cost, you know,
about 30 grand.

And it was all computerized.
It was a computerized lab.

It was enclosed.
It had all the test tubes

the pyrex, everything.

We would order P2P

which came in a 55-gallon drum

from Albuquerque.

And that makes
the real methamphetamine.

That is the Breaking Bad
methamphetamine.

Well, we went up the hill
of our property,

and we took the dozer up there
and dug out a big hole,

where we could put
the little camper in,

so it was covered
if anybody flew over.

It wasn't just
the bathtub gear

that these hillbillies
make the meth

and get the suit and pants
from the drug store.

You know, it was
a laboratory down there.

I liked
to sell the best.

I wanted the best.

It took a chemist three days
to cook a good batch.

Then he would shoot it up

to make sure
it was a good batch.

If it killed him, I didn't
want it killing my friends.

So, that was the deal.

And then he'd bring it down
when he was done.

And he was gone.

So, you know, nobody saw him.
Nobody knew he was there.

Nobody knew anything about it.

About ten pounds of meth,
we can make $400,000.

We could make
a couple batches a week

So it was
doubling the product.

If you're driving
to California,

it'd take us a week to go out
and then come back.

Well, now, every three days,

you'd go up and make more.

Methamphetamine addiction is

now an epidemic
across the Midwest.

It was
once a West coast problem,

manufactured mainly

by motorcycle gangs
in California.

People have
friends everywhere

and it just
spread pretty quick.

We had a truck driver on call

that anytime we'd need him,
he'd haul anything out.

Yeah. So, I couldn't tell you
exactly how many states.

It could've been
the whole United States.

If you had to locate
ground zero,

in the explosive use
of a killer drug

called methamphetamine

would you name
the state of Iowa?

She could buy
whatever she wanted.

She even had airplanes.

You know?
She had ultra-lights.

It was just crazy.

I mean, I had diamonds.

Huge diamonds on every finger.

She told me if I wanted
a bunch of diamonds,

how to get them.

I know what you like,
from selling drugs.

We had paintball wars.

We had people coming out here
out of state to do paintballs.

If we went there,
you might as well be planning

on staying two
or three, four days

partying just every day,
all night long.

I mean, there was
no holding back!

We three, Tom, Lori
and me are very compulsive.

And then add tranq
to that or whatever,

it's, you know,
it's not a good deal.

Think you did a good job
with these, guys.

Sure, I held them there
for you.

Tom
and Roseanne came to town

and they were staying
at my dad's house.

Lori would open her purse
and she goes,

"What do you want?"

I go, "What do you got?"

She'd have every kind of drug.

I hooked him up
with an eight ball

of Peruvian Flake cocaine,
which is really, top line.

And I get
the mirror out for him

so he can get him a line.

So he dumps this eight-ball
out on the mirror.

He starts chopping it up
and everything.

So, we're all sitting around,

you know,
waiting for a line, too,

because, you know, you always
share when you get stuff.

So, he takes it
and then he just snorts

the whole eight-ball.

All of it.

Which is crazy,

because that's a lot
of cocaine at one time.

So, he left,
and then I get a phone call

from Roseanne 'cause he went
back to dad's house.

And she goes, "What did you do
to your brother?"

I'm like, "Well, I didn't do
anything to my brother. What?"

Well, he was laying in bed,
he was turning all red,

shaking, and you know.

Well, yeah. He did
an eight-ball of cocaine.

But I didn't want
to tell her that, you know?

And she wasn't into cocaine.

That was... that was crazy.

I'll never forget that one.

Dang! I've been
doing drugs for my whole life,

and I even wouldn't
do an eight-ball of cocaine.

Roseanne finally
put her foot down,

and she said, "It's either
you get off cocaine

and I'll marry you
and take your last name.

But otherwise, no."

So, he went into rehab,
recovery, whatever,

and got away from it.
And then they got married.

How about a nice kiss?

Okay. One.

I went into rehab.

I just knew I cannot do drugs.
I cannot drink.

I cannot do anything.

I just put my head down,
and one day at a time.

For the next year, I did not
want to see my sister.

She was a drug dealer.

He wanted me
to stop selling as much.

It's just like
somebody quits smoking,

and they bitch about
the cigarette smoke, you know.

I said, "Tom, stay the fuck
out of my life, okay?"

Or, "Don't preach to me."
You know?

She was like, "I'm a kingpin.
I'm not an addict."

It was just
so easy to bring in

hundreds of thousands
of dollars.

It was too easy.

I wasn't thinking
how it was going to affect

people's families, or,
you know, even my own.

"Queen of Meth" is how

people that don't know
my mom see my mom.

She had this reign
of drug-dealing

and cars and drugs,
and you know,

lavish living or whatever,
but, you know,

from the inside looking out,
she was my mom, Lori.

I was kind of a momma's boy.

I'd go to store with my mom,
we'd go run errands.

Honestly, I would probably go
with her on her drug deals,

but, you know,
not really know it.

I tried to keep
the drugs away from Josh.

So he didn't see them.

I didn't have
anything laying out

if he was home.

If we were going
to sit at a table

and do lines or something,

you know,
I'd send him outside.

But, kids are smart.

And they know
something's going on.

There's a lot
of times where she was like,

"Oh, stay up in your room."
Or, you know, "Stay outside!"

You know, they wanted
to keep me occupied.

I remember he asked me

one time I was
taking him to school,

"Mom," he says,

"everybody's selling
something."

He says, "Kimmy is--"
His little friend.

"Kimmy is selling candy bars.

Sandra is selling candles.

And we're selling
little bags of tea."

He says,
"How come we're selling

little bags of tea, mom?"
I'm like...

I'm like, "Uh-oh."

I said, "Well...
it's imported."

After I had
seen them doing it,

I kinda put
two and two together.

I'd ask my mom to stop,
and she probably gave me

some sort of bullshit answer.

You know? Like,
that she wasn't doing it.

Or, you know.
Or, it's not a big deal.

It's hard to pay a lot
of attention to your kids

when you got a lot
of people in the house,

and a lot of chaos going on.

From
a very young age,

my parents were drug users.

When I was young,
it was hidden from me.

And it was hidden
as best as it could be hidden.

But you still knew.

There was a lot of things.
We were out late doing things

that, you know,
a second-grader,

third-grader shouldn't
have been.

Floyd was actually
my mom's cousin.

She was a single mom
with five kids.

And I think she did
what she needed to do

to survive, and part
of that was selling meth.

Everybody in our house knew

that that's what,
you know, my mom did.

I don't even
remember what happened.

But I decided
to shoot up one night.

And it was...

ten times the high
that was snorting it, to me.

And I knew I'd never
snort another line.

And I don't think I did.

I was just selling enough
to support my habit.

My habit got pretty expensive.

And I lost
everything we owned.

I don't know how many times.
I really don't.

I dragged my son
to some of, you know,

the worst places
you can take your kids.

I knew...

Um...

I knew I didn't
deserve a better life.

But I knew
my son did.

It got to where I couldn't
hardly look him in the eye.

'Cause I see the pain
on that kid's face,

you know?
And I just, I had to do more.

It was like,
I can't look at that.

I can't stay sober.
I've tried.

And, so, you know,
I really thought

I was probably going to have
to die from it or kill myself.

Drug addiction is
a disease.

It's always very selfish
when it affects kids.

Growing up, when I was young,

I didn't have
a mother in my house...

because of addiction.

I wish I had that.

But this is what we do

if we aren't aware,
we repeat the mistakes.

I never realized
it was a problem,

'cause everybody always seemed
to be having a good time.

Because nobody was

-honest with you.
-Right.

Everybody was pumping you up
'cause you had the dope.

-Yeah.
-Everybody was

who they thought you wanted
them to be.

When you start using drugs,

in my opinion,
it's just a snowball effect.

You use the drugs
and you can afford the drugs

at the beginning,
but then you get an addiction.

And now, maybe you're
stealing to get the drugs.

Or you're pawning your things
to get the drugs.

Then you have a huge problem.

Drugs are
menacing our society.

Nancy's joining me

because the message
this evening is

not my message,

but ours.

It was almost a ripe,
perfect storm,

for that to take place,

economically, with what was
happening in the community.

They're threatening our values

and undercutting
our institutions.

They're killing our children.

Methamphetamine is
one of the most deadliest

degrading drug I've ever seen.

What will you do
when someone offers you drugs?

Just say no!

If you face this evil,
this will be nothing

but a handful
of useless chemicals.

Then all of a sudden,

they put a government stop
on the P2P.

You had to actually go
through a screening

and fill out all these forms,

it was kind of like buying
a gun in a way,

in order to get the chemicals.

So, we stopped
cooking in the lab.

But we ended up
going back out to California.

But then things started...

started getting bad.

I think she was being

a little too out there
with it.

She was out there,
cutting lines out

on her hood of her car,

which, to me, was
a little outrageous for Lori.

And I called her on that,

and she got mad
at me for that.

Shit rolls downhill,

you know, and it's gonna
come back on you,

and she didn't want
to hear that, you know?

I was
out there on the ranch.

Me and my mom both seen
like, brake lights,

for one second,
low to the ground.

And, so we left.

And then I called Lori
and told her,

and she's like, "Oh, wow,
woman. You're so paranoid."

We noticed
certain things.

Cops, strange cars,

helicopters.

And then once in a while,
somebody come in the bar,

that looked, you know,

different. But I got along
good with the cops.

And my stepdad was a cop.

He was
the Chief of Detectives.

My cousin is a cop.
He ended up

being Chief of Police.

So, I thought, as long
as nobody's getting hurt

and it wasn't being...
you know, thrown out

where everybody can
see it, whatever,

they just kinda overlooked it.

Lori thought that
law enforcement was

either turning a blind eye,

or didn't care
about her activities.

But what Lori didn't know was

that it couldn't be
further from the truth.