METH TREATMENT MORE HELPFUL IN LONG TERM

Regarding your March 28 editorial "Keep up good work fighting crystal
meth": How should Hawaii respond to illicit crystal methamphetamine
use? During the crack epidemic of the eighties, New York City chose
the "zero tolerance" approach, opting to arrest and incarcerate 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 simultaneously.

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 (see www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/187490.txt). This
is not to say nothing can be done about meth. 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.

ROBERT SHARPE

Policy analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.