DRUG WARP

I'm writing about your cover story: "Faster, Speedfreak! Cook! Cook!" [Aug.
18]. During the 1960s I worked for the federal government and several of my
coworkers used amphetamines known as "mini-bennies" or "whites." When these
products were taken off the market and made illegal, the meth of today was
reborn.

Today's meth labs are very similar to the illegal distilleries of the era
known as the "Noble Experiment." During our alcohol prohibition, thousands
died and went blind or were crippled for life from what was then known as
"bathtub gin."

Like the meth of today, the bathtub gin was easily made from household or
industrial products. Like the meth of today, the bathtub gin was a product
created by prohibition. Like the meth of today, illegal alcohol could be
manufactured just about anywhere.

Like the meth of today, Prohibition-era alcohol was of unknown quality,
unknown purity and unknown potency. When alcohol prohibition ended in 1933,
almost 100 percent of the bathtub gin producers went out of business for
economic reasons, and they have stayed out of the business for economic
reasons. When alcohol prohibition ended in 1933, our overall crime rate
declined substantially and our murder rate declined for 10 consecutive
years. Have we learned any lessons?

Not yet.

KIRK MUSE

MESA, ARIZONA