STOP GETTING TOUGH ON DRUGS, GET SMART

Methamphetamine addiction is a serious problem. Fewer home-based labs
churning out meth and toxic waste is good news. Mexican-produced
methamphetamine now flooding the market is discouraging but not a
reason to wave the white flag. You got all of that exactly right in
your Nov. 29 editorial ("Continue, expand fight against meth"). And
in the same editorial you reveal exactly why Washington County law
enforcement agencies report "as much methamphetamine, possibly even
more, is available now."

"A focused and collaborative approach by citizens, legislators and
law enforcement officers can make an appreciable difference in the
war against meth." So says your editorial. Ummm, aren't you
forgetting something? Like the most important piece of the puzzle?

Drug addiction is a medical problem. There is no political cure for
it -- salvation will not come from Salem. Nor is there a criminal
justice solution to drug addiction. Locking people inside metal cages
does not cure addiction. Sooner or later that addict is going to get
out of jail and go right back to the old environment and behaviors.

Rates of tobacco addiction -- the drug that kills many times more
Americans every year than all other drugs combined -- have been
slashed by half over the past three decades. We didn't achieve that
success by shutting down home-based tobacco-grow operations or by
mass arrests of tobacco-users. Instead we wisely used a public-health
and education approach. It worked, and it continues to work as fewer
and fewer teens become addicted to tobacco.

Oregon can continue to build prisons until your treasury bleeds red.
Or you can stop getting tough on drugs and start getting smart
instead. The choice is yours.

Greg Francisco

Speaker, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Paw Paw, MI