LESSONS FROM CRACK CAN APPLY TO METH

Regarding your Dec. 4 editorial about how Oregon should respond to
illicit methamphetamine use. During the crack epidemic of the 1980s,
New York City chose the zero-tolerance approach, opting to arrest and
prosecute as many offenders as possible. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C.,
Mayor Marion Barry was smoking crack, and America's capital had the
highest per capita murder rate in the country. Yet crack use declined
in both cities.

Simply put, the younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing
to their older brothers and sisters and decided for themselves that
crack was bad news. This is not to say nothing can be done about
methamphetamine. Access to drug treatment is critical for the current
generation of meth users. Diverting resources away from prisons and
into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars and lives.

The following U.S. Department of Justice research brief confirms my
claims regarding the spontaneous decline of crack cocaine:
www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/187490.txt

ROBERT SHARPE

Policy analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.