U.S. DRUG POLICIES ARE FILLING UP OUR PRISONS

I'm writing about the article, "Pharmacists say bill a positive step,"
published in the May 5 edition of The Herald-Dispatch.

Keeping the ingredients of meth behind the counter of licensed pharmacies
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 U. S. have fewer 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.