COMBAT METH USE WITH TREATMENT, NOT PRISON

How should Iowa respond to the growing use of methamphetamine? During the
crack epidemic of the eighties, 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 crack 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.

Robert Sharpe

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.