CRACKDOWNS CREATE A NATION OF PRISONS

I'm writing about your Oct. 18 front page story, "Meth lockdown." Keeping
the ingredients of meth behind the counter is certainly a lot better
solution than the previous non-solution of building more and bigger
prisons. Oklahoma learned the hard way that the so-called "tough on drugs"
policies don't work and they are very expensive. Largely because of their
"tough on drugs" policies, Oklahoma became the fourth highest state for
incarcerations.

Largely because of our war on drugs policies, the United States has been
transformed into the most incarcerated nation in the history of human
civilization. Even though we in the U.S. have fewer than 5 percent of the
world's population, we have more than 25 percent of the world's prisoners.
In other words, one out of every four prisoners in the world is locked in
an American jail or prison. What message does this send to the rest of the
world?

KIRK MUSE

MESA