TREATMENT, NOT PRISON

How should Utah respond to the growing use of methamphetamine?
("Methamphetamines: Insidious drug requires a different approach,"
Our View, Jan. 11).

During the crack epidemic of the '80s, 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
simultaneously. Simply put, the younger generation saw firsthand what
crack was doing to their older brothers and sisters and decided for
themselves that it 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: http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1 /nij/187490.txt

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.