DRUG WAR STRATEGY I

In "DEA joins our team" (May 11), The News-Press promises that more resident
scrutiny by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Northwest
Missouri will soon cure its growing methamphetamine problem.

Highly addictive and easy and cheap to make, methamphetamine - like
heroin and cocaine before it - will not slow down or disappear with
increased law enforcement and new get-tough drug laws. Like heroin and
cocaine, meth will thrive and spread if law enforcement is the only
response Missouri knows how to make.

How much affordable drug treatment now exists in Northwest Missouri?
Is Jefferson City increasing the state budget for medical treatment
for addiction? Or (as in my state, and states across the nation) is
the legislature slashing the treatment budget and making it nigh
impossible for an addict who wants to be cured to find medical help?
In the same week the daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was arrested
for trying to obtain prescription drugs with a forged prescription,
Gov. Bush was slashing his state's budget for drug treatment.

Ten years ago the prestigious RAND Corp. concluded that one dollar
spent on medical treatment is as effective as $7 spent on criminal
justice in reducing drug use in the community.

The News-Press urges readers to call the police if they suspect meth
activity, but has not a single word to say about medical treatment.
The News-Press' naive and shortsighted faith in "the cop cure" is
dooming Northwest Missouri to more methamphetamine use and addiction,
not less.

If the editorial writer's child had a drug problem, would this parent
call 911 - or the family doctor?

Robert Merkin

Northampton, Mass.