JAILS NOT AN ANSWER

To the editor:

I'm writing about: "Tougher meth law proposed" (April 11).

Keeping the ingredients of methamphetamine behind the counter of
licensed pharmacies is certainly a lot better solution than the
previous nonsolution 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.