Final Word from Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Did you know that 5% of the 10m Czech population uses crystal
meth, known locally as pervitin? Of course you didn't, because
it's nonsense. But millions of people who saw Sunday's episode
of "Breaking Bad" in the U.S. and other countries now know it.
The show depicted the CR as a large, highly active market for
methamphetamine, a market that is supposedly twice as
profitable as the Southwest U.S. area dealt with in the award-
winning TV show. It's true that the CR supplies an estimated 95%
of Europe's crystal meth, but the actual number of Czechs using
the drug in 2011 was only 28,200, according to the European
Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction. The show's
writer, Moira Walley-Beckett, apparently confused meth
production in the country (which is largely exported) with local
meth usage. Or maybe she visited Wenceslas Square on a Friday
night and extrapolated from there.[Czech Republic United States AMC Blue Sky Vince Gilligan]
Glossary of difficult words
blue meth - the methamphetamine in the show "Breaking Bad" is known as blue meth or Blue Sky, because of its blue color;
to extrapolate - to estimate or conclude something by extending the application of a method to an unknown situation by assuming that existing trends will continue or similar methods will be applicable.