LESSONS OF PROHIBITION

I'm writing about the May 26 article, "Meth labs can be anywhere -
maybe next door." During the 1960s, several of my co-workers used
amphetamines. When these products were taken off the market and made
illegal, the meth of today was born.

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

Like meth, "bathtub gin" was easily made from household or industrial
products. It was a product created by prohibition that 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, Ariz.