METH ARTICLE SHOWS NEED FOR NEW DRUG POLICY

Kudos to the Tidings and author Nick Budnick for the outstanding
article, "One Meth Problem Leads To Another (Nov 29)."

Superbly covered and well written, the article is a classic
condemnation of our nation's prohibition-style drug policies.

In drug policy reform circles, there is what is known as the "balloon
theory." If you take an inflated balloon and squeeze it, it bulges.

Try and push down on the bulges and they pop up elsewhere. So it goes
with leaving the control of the few illegal drugs in the hands of
gangs and cartels.

The example of the reduction in domestic "mom and pop" meth labs here
only served to squeeze the drug war balloon. The same situation
exists in Latin America with cocaine production.

We must change the drug policies that are failing.

Those policies are but mirror images of alcohol prohibition leading
to increased violence, increased corruption, increased danger to our
children, etc.

We must re-legalize all drugs. We must bite back our vanity and admit
failure. We must regain control of these illicit drugs.

The only fans of drug prohibition are the gangs and cartels and the
professional bureaucrats who enjoy the gravy train of a perpetual
drug war bureaucracy.

If we want to scare the cartels we must begin to utter the one word
they don't want to hear: Legalization.

Allan Erickson

Eugene