DRUG REGULATION THE BEST WAY TO HANDLE THE MENACE OF METH

Your March 23 comments about our methamphetamine crisis paraphrase the case
for outlawing the most dangerous substance of all: alcohol. Alcohol can be
made from readily available ingredients. It causes death, disease and
murder, and it's everywhere.

Yet, after a 13-year attempt to eradicate it, America decided the best
method was legal regulation.

Today we face proliferating meth labs; in 1919, there were 300-odd licensed
distilleries in the U.S. By 1933, police had destroyed 179,000-plus stills
as thousands more took their place.

Meth represents the greatest hope that we will come to our senses about the
devastation of drug prohibition. Before meth, prohibition reinforced our
prejudices by targeting faceless minorities while allowing law enforcers to
make money by seizing cash and property.

But meth affects your Uncle Bubba and his wife. Every time you take down a
meth lab, you get a bill for toxic waste cleanup, two more adults in prison
and three more kids in foster care. This time around, a narcotics agent who
does a good job might end up having to raise his sister's kids.

Drug regulation is not a panacea, but it's the best way to manage this
difficult aspect of human nature.

Bob Ramsey

Drug Policy Forum of Texas

www.dpft.org (http://www.dpft.org)

Irving