GREATER EMPHASIS NEEDED ON REDUCING DRUG DEMAND

I hated to see them come down. The artwork had adorned the lobby of
the newspaper office for the better part of two weeks. Even to the
untrained eye it was easy to see the progression of experience
exhibited in the work of the artists. The submissions were part of a
classified advertising "Say No to Drugs" promotion. Local school
children were encouraged to color in an anti-drug message that
published in the newspaper. They competed for prizes, but all of their
work was on display in the office.

I first remember the "Say No to Drugs" campaign gaining national
momentum in 1980 when First Lady Nancy Reagan embraced the idea. To a
large degree the war on drugs focused on impeding the supply of drugs
from places like Afghanistan, where poppy growing leads to a large
trade in heroin and other drugs with an opium base, and Columbia,
where cocoa beans form the basis of cocaine. Battles have been won
over the years, but if Vietnam was the first war America has lost, the
war on drugs is the second.

After seeing the movie "Traffic" four years ago, it was clear to me --
and I said so at the time in this column -- that stopping the supply
of illegal drugs coming into this country was impossible given the
demand for them and the price users were willing to pay. At current
levels, there is just too much money involved in the trade. As long as
the profits remain high, someone is going to take the risks involved
with bringing them in the country for sale and distribution.

That was then; today the nemesis of the local drug trade is not an
imported product. Methamphetamine is so easy to produce there are
plenty of people manufacturing and selling it. There is also a large
amount produced for personal consumption by addicts. Known on the
street by names like speed, meth, crank and chalk, it is versatile in
that one can smoke it, sniff it or inject it. However it is consumed,
the drug is a powerful stimulant that affects the central nervous
system, produces increased activity and decreased appetite, and can
lead to agitation -- even violence. In January, the Washington Post
reported that a 10-year-old girl in a small Indiana town was abducted
and killed to keep her from revealing that methamphetamine was being
cooked in an apartment near her home.

In the not too distant past, there was a pungent and distinctive odor
associated with the manufacture of drugs. Many of the factories were
located in isolated rural areas to protect the chemists from being
detected. According to Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs, the process
today is so simple that you have them renting motel rooms and cooking
it in the microwave.

Law enforcement officials in many states around the country are
watching with interest a program in Oklahoma that has been in
operation for roughly 10 months. The state became the first in the
nation where pharmacies keep popular cold remedies behind the counter
and identification is required to buy them.

The Oklahoma law classifies pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in
decongestants such as Sudafed, as a controlled substance. It seems
that it is also an ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
The law takes the cold medicines out of convenience stores and grocery
stores and limits the amount consumers can buy at pharmacies.
Customers can buy no more than nine grams, or about 12 boxes of the
drug, within a 30-day period. If successful, Sudafed and other
over-the-counter medicines may follow the path other, once easily
available medicines have followed. I remember when paregoric was a
common pain killer our mothers rubbed on our gums for toothaches until
creative junkies figured out it could produce a high if injected.

The Oklahoma approach is another attempt to address the supply side of
the equation. It may prove to be a real asset because the popularity
of meth is due in part to its low cost, relative to other illegal
drugs. But it still seems to me, what is really needed is more
emphasis on reducing the demand. One can hope that the 3-year-old boy
taken by Child Protective Services from his pregnant mother arrested
on drug charges this week in Brownwood will have the chance to submit
his artwork in next year's contest.

Robert Brincefield is publisher of the Brownwood Bulletin. His column
appears on Sundays.