ISOLATE DRUG DEALERS

Editor:

I am relieved to see the repudiation of the ideas of a former officer
of the law against the prohibition of seriously addictive drugs which
were published in the previous issue of the Payson Roundup.

When a purveyor of methamphetamine sells a bag to another person, it
is -- as far as I can see -- little different than had he shot the
person dead -- little different except for the far reaching
catastrophic collateral damage which is certain to be wreaked by the
purchaser upon the rest of society in order to fund his addiction. I t
is my feeling that upon the FIRST conviction for the sale of
methamphetamine, the convict should be sentenced to life plus one day
in an ISOLATION (isolation -- not penal, not rehabilitative --
isolation) colony in the farthest, driest and hottest/coldest
hinterlands of the Western deserts. There, he will be required to
labor for his needs with minimal assistance (seeds, fertilizer and
water) or perish. No visitors and absolutely no communication with the
outside should be permitted, except for the one-way-in notice to
him/her upon the death of family members, and except for the
one-way-out notice to his family upon the eventual death of the convict.

The same should apply to one convicted for the second time for
possession.

This scourge must be stopped and only the methods which I have
described are likely to get the attention of those not yet involved
with these drugs. Those already enmeshed in them must be permanently
removed from society.

"Cruel and Unusual," you say: I challenge you to ask the mother and
the father who has lost a promising son or daughter to this horrible
substance addiction -- just ask them. Ask the man who has seen his
business partner shot down, leading not only to the loss of his best
friend, but to the loss of his business and livelihood -- ask him.

As to technical methods of enforcement, require that all the precursor
substances available in over-the-counter retail trade be tracer-tagged
such that when a batch of meth-amphetamine is seized, it can be traced
back to its source. That will end that trade.

Those who sell a significant portion of the several precursors of
methamphetamine at the same or different times to the same or
different purchasers should be subject to the same permanent removal
from society. No quibbling, please.

ALLEN N. WOLLSCHEIDT

Payson