METH PROBLEM WILL ONLY CONTINUE TO GET WORSE

To the editor:

What a wonderful job you do. In your "letters to the editor" section
are lots of topics of interest to all. This time my thanks are in
order. I believe I saw an article that Charles Taylor, our Western
North Caroline Congressman, has decided to vote against the
government buyout of our forests and parks. I'm sure we all are happy
about that and will continue to put forward our wishes on keeping our
parks and forests free from government sales.

I have an article from the paper saying that District Attorney Mike
Bonfoey applauded the news that the U. S. Senate has approved
legislation that will combat the methamphetamine problem in Western
North Carolina. "Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005,"
specifically section 211, if approved by Congress and signed into law
by our president, will help our states and our local law enforcement
agencies in the fight against methamphetamine abuse. This has become
really very widespread in Western North Carolina, with cases tripling
since 2002.

I don't believe that all writers are concerned about this spread, but
you had three articles in your paper written by people who had been
into drugs. One girl who has been drug-free for one year expressed
very well how hard it is, once you have tried it, to leave it alone.
She said the drug had a hold on her so strong that she sank as low as
she could go, before finding help to combat this terrible habit. She
says the Lord helped her, and she wanted everyone to know how hard it
is to control the desire for this drug. She had spoken out in the
hope of helping others to find help. One of the biggest helps would
be controlling the manufacture and production of methamphetamines.
The federal government might be able to help our agencies wipe this
drug off our streets. So what do all your readers have to say about
this? I sure do hope they will realize the problems that
methamphetamines are responsible for and the lives that are sometimes
forever changed.

Carol Reid

Clyde