READER WARNS OF METH ABUSE

Dear Editor:

I read with great interest Scott Hawkins' column on Friday, Feb. 9,
regarding methamphetamine.

Scott, you are right, "Education is the key to Prevention."

If people only had a clue as to how nasty and how much harm physically,
mentally, emotionally and spiritually this poison did to themselves, I
really believe only the suicidal would even consider running it in their
veins or snorting it up their nose.

But, sadly, people just don't know ... Or they just don't care....

I pray your series does educate some folks, and your readers pass this
education on to others. Educating people would limit the demand some and
thus point all of us in the right direction.

But what about solving the problem instead of just fixing the symptoms?

What if the demand for the drug was a little less, and the drug was more
difficult to obtain?

The Drug Task Force is 100 percent better than what used to be done about
drugs, but they are just scratching the surface and prices on the street
remain the same. This is because the ingredients are so easily available
and methamphetamine can be produced cheaply and easily in your home.

The solution lies in intervening into the problem. People envision a
sheriff before a grand jury requesting a directive to mandate the
commissioners to draft an ordinance to take this "legal" drug ephedrine off
the counters, require ID and make it all that much more difficult for kids
to purchase.

It could lead to a cleaner, safer world.

Education begins at home. Parents, talk with your kids.

Intervention begins with all of us. The problem is winning, and if you are
not part of the solution, then you are the problem.

Kim Kilgore, Substance Abuse Counselor
Andalusia