WHITE HOUSE WRONG ABOUT METH DANGER

The July 6 article on methamphetamines quoted a White House policy
analyst, Dave Murray, who delivered a dismissive statement
encapsulating Washington's view of methamphetamines, while minimizing
the problem cited by law enforcement on the front line.

He ignorantly discounted health and safety, economic, social and
environmental costs of meth use and production as less than "epidemic."

The experienced, professional assessment of 500 of the nation's
sheriff's departments is no joke. We must heed it by demanding
changes in access to over-the-counter and prescription sources of
methamphetamine production.

Comparing the numbers of "identified" meth and marijuana users also
skews perspective of the methamphetamine problem and is grounded on a
faulty identification system based partially on self-disclosure and
drug testing.

Meth is an invasive threat to society at this level. Meth exits the
body in two to eight days, and meth users can easily skirt drug
testing. Meth is consumed in multiple forms and, therefore, easily hidden.

Whereas a teenager cannot legally vote, drive or drink alcohol, the
same child can legally buy the ingredients to produce methamphetamines.

Perhaps we should rename methamphetamines the "gateway drug," since
it is the only domestically manufactured schedule II drug that is
legally accessible without prescription.

Cathleen Horner

Hercules