BATTLING THE METH 'EPIDEMIC'

The summer began with a controversy over a new government anti-marijuana
campaign that re-ignited a long-smoldering debate about the dangers of pot.
It ended with a dust-up over methamphetamine, a potent and addictive drug
also known as meth or crystal meth.

A Newsweek cover breathlessly called meth "America's Most Dangerous Drug"
and warned of an "epidemic" that will soon be spreading to Your Town, if
it's not already there. Meth is being called a "plague" by some drug
officials and likened to a forest fire sweeping the country. A recent
survey of 500 sheriffs' departments in 45 states labeled meth the No. 1
scourge. Some in Congress are accusing the White House of largely ignoring
meth to focus on battling marijuana.

All of that has prompted some critics to cry "hype," suspecting that the
meth epidemic is a transparent ploy by law enforcement to drum up more
federal money.

A dose of skepticism is warranted here.

"Epidemic" implies that meth has swamped the country. That is not true. If
you're a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in San Diego or Phoenix, the
term is apt. But it's not if you're in Chicago. Cocaine and heroin are much
bigger problems here, a DEA agent said. That's also true of many
Northeastern cities, where meth remains a minor player.

But meth, sometimes called "poor man's cocaine," is popular and spreading.

There's no dispute about the perils of meth. Everyone agrees it's bad
stuff. Like any other dangerous drug, meth can kill. It destroys lives.
It's an insidious, highly addictive drug that can be smoked, snorted or
injected. Users get an intense jolt of energy that often tips into paranoia
and insomnia. In some, it stokes violent rages. Side effects include
convulsions, stroke and cardiac arrhythmia. As we said, this is bad stuff.
It doesn't need to be hyped.

The question being debated in Washington now is how much of America's
drug-fighting resources should be focused on meth, as opposed to marijuana,
cocaine and other, more widely used drugs. In 2003, for example, an
estimated 25 million people used marijuana, 5.9 million used cocaine and
crack and 1.3 million used meth.

The White House has favored targeting marijuana as Drug Enemy No. 1,
because of its widespread use and because it's considered a gateway for
young people toward more serious drug use.

The targeting of marijuana as a gateway drug traces back several
administrations. There is growing skepticism about the theory, however,
buttressed by more recent research. The notion that youngster's marijuana
use will translate into use of harder drugs later is proving to be
simplistic at best. And allocating the lion's share of resources by
measuring the number of drug users may not be the most effective strategy.

The nation can't focus on fighting one drug to the near-exclusion of all
others. Officials must take into account the ripple effects of a drug's
damage--that is, not just the health costs for addicts and users, but also
costs to cities and neighborhoods in crime, violence and sundered families.

The anti-meth strategy is two-fold.

First, authorities are targeting the makeshift labs where the drug is
cooked. They recently boasted of the first nationally coordinated
operation, yielding more than 400 arrests in about 200 cities, shutting
down 56 labs. Cracking down on meth production in the U.S. is a good idea
because those makeshift labs are like toxic waste dumps in a neighborhood.
They emit noxious fumes and are highly explosive.

Unfortunately, success in closing such domestic labs won't stop meth. It
only means that Mexican cartels pick up the slack. An investigation by The
Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Ore., reported that Mexico last year
imported nearly twice as much pseudoephedrine--one of the keys to illegal
meth production--than is necessary for the production of cold medicine.

The second tactic: Many states, including Illinois, are restricting sales
of over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines with ingredients that can be
converted into the drug. In Oregon, for instance, you now need a doctor's
prescription for such common cold medications as Claritin-D or Sudafed.
That's overly burdensome. It is enough to keep some of those products
behind the counter, available without a prescription. That's the practice
in Illinois. Asking a pharmacist for Sudafed is a small inconvenience that
most people will shrug off, particularly if it helps crimp a notorious drug
trade.

Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales recently declared that meth had overtaken
marijuana as the most dangerous drug in America. That's certainly true in
many places in this country. And where it isn't, it could be tomorrow. The
focus now should be in making sure that meth doesn't become a full-fledged
"epidemic."