JAIL NOT SOLUTION TO DRUG PROBLEM

I'm writing about: "Waging War On Meth" (May 1).

Keeping the ingredients of meth behind the counter of licensed pharmacies
and limiting their sales is certainly a much better solution than the
previous non-solution of building more and bigger prisons.

Oklahoma learned the hard way that the so-called "tough on drugs" policies
don't work and they are very expensive. Primarily because of their "tough
on drugs" policies, Oklahoma became the fourth highest state for
incarcerations.

Primarily because of our war on drugs policies, the United States has been
transformed into the most incarcerated nation in the history of human
civilization. Even though we in the United States have less than 5 percent
of the world's population, we have more than 25 percent of the world's
prisoners.

In other words, one out of every four prisoners in the world is locked in
an American jail or prison.

What message does this send to the rest of the world?

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.