RE: "METH MAKING AN IMPACT", MAY 31, OPINION.

How should B.C. respond to the growing use of methamphetamine?

Here in the United States, New York City chose the zero tolerance
approach during the crack epidemic of the eighties.

Meanwhile, Washington, DC 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.

The decline was not due to a slick anti-drug advertising campaign or
the passage of mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Simply put, the younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing
to their older siblings 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 users. In
order to protect future generations from hard drugs like meth,
policymakers need to adopt the Canadian Senate's common sense
proposal to tax and regulate marijuana. As long as marijuana
distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, consumers will
continue to come into contact with addictive drugs like meth.

This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy.
Drug policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like
to think the children are more important than the message.

(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, MPA , Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy