CRITICISM OF BILL TO COMBAT METH IS DUMBFOUNDING

With the meth crisis swirling all around us, I am shocked some Oregon
citizens are against the meth bill in the Legislature. Locally, Marion
County has held the federal designation of a High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area for years due to our meth epidemic.

Marion County enforcement officials estimate that 80 percent to 90 percent
of property crimes are meth related; we are on track to remove 1,000-plus
children from parental custody in 2005 due to meth; insurance rates in the
Salem area are double the national average due to meth; and Oregon is
seventh in the nation for the number of identity-theft claims.

Oregonians against the meth bill are most concerned about the requirement
of a doctor's prescription to get cold products that contain
pseudoephedrine. I feel education is needed! There are products on the
shelves right now that relieve your cold symptoms and work they same way as
the products that would require a prescription but they don't include
pseudoephedrine.

Our citizens are paying a high price to fight meth: an estimated $360 per
person annually. I would rather keep my $360 and use a different cold remedy.

- -- Cyndi Astley

Salem