TOO MANY IN JAILS

EDITOR: I'm writing in regard to the story about pseudoephedrine being
removed from the shelves of stores. Keeping the ingredients of meth
behind the counter of pharmacies is certainly a lot 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. Largely because of
their "tough on drugs" policies, Oklahoma became the fourth highest
state for incarcerations.

Largely because of our war on drugs policies, the United States has
been transformed into the most incarcerated nation in the history of
civilization. Even though we in the United States 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
up in an American jail or prison. What message does this send to the
rest of the world?

KIRK MUSE

Mesa, Ariz.