DRUG PROFITS

Regarding your July 3 editorial "A way to curb meth abuse": Why must
we now decide whether to restrict the sale of cold medicines because
some might be used to manufacture methamphetamine?

The reason is our failed antidrug policy: drug prohibition.

When I was a teen, amphetamine was sold over-the-counter for pennies
to students to cram for their exams, dieting housewives and long-haul
truckers. It now sells on the street as "meth" for more than $2,000
per ounce, and "meth labs" endanger our kids and the environment.

When we first took it off the shelves, its price rose. That didn't
work, so we criminalized it. That drove its price sky high and rogue
entrepreneurs got into the business. That isn't working either. And
it is not just amphetamine.

For the past 30 years, this profit escalation has happened to drug
after drug after drug. Worse yet, the huge profit margin drives rogue
chemists to design new drugs, make it big, then get out before the
DEA catches on.

The solution is to take out the profit. Regulate all drugs in a legal
market and use part of their tax revenue to offer treatment to all
who ask. Not a perfect solution, but better than what we have today.

John Chase

Palm Harbor