Methamphetamine is somewhat belatedly taking its place in popular culture, with references to the evils associated with use of the drug popping up in movies and music, MSN reported Feb. 14.

The new AMC series "Breaking Bad," for example, features a chemistry teacher who becomes a meth cook to provide for his family after he learns that he is dying of cancer. Typical portrayals of the drug focus on the depravity of users; other examples include the Brad Pitt character in 2002's "The Salton Sea," the 2007 novel "The King of Methlehem" by Mark Lindquist, and the Drive-By Truckers song, "You and Your Crystal Meth."

Popular culture's slow embrace of meth reflects the drug's slow spread, which often has bypassed big cities in favor of poor, rural communities. "If (prevalent meth use) had been going on in Westchester County, New York, or Bethesda, Maryland, methamphetamine would have been a national priority 15 years ago," said Rick Rawson of UCLA's integrated substance abuse programs. "It just hasn't hit the media centers where generally something like that gets attention."

When Patterson Hood, a singer and songwriter for the Drive-By Truckers, wrote his song about meth use in his Alabama hometown, "At the time, nobody was talking about it. There wasn't songs about it; it wasn't getting much attention from the press," he said. Hood said that the song still tends to resonate more with middle American fans than those from big cities.

"It's not a very romantic thing to sing about," said Hood. "There's nothing really cool or hip about it like some drugs have been at various times in our culture." That may explain why, unlike cocaine, so few movies have incorporated meth use into their storylines. Whereas the TV show "Miami Vice" took a glamorous look at the cocaine trade of the 1980s, the 2006 movie version included a villain who lived in a meth-filled trailer home.

"It's a double-edged sword," said Rawson. "The fact that (glamorization) hasn't happened with methamphetamine may have contributed to less spread in some geographic regions of the country. But the other side of the coin is it's been very difficult to get methamphetamine onto the national agenda."