NOTHING LEARNED

I'm writing about, "The New Problem Drugs: Meth" (Empire, Nov. 25). During
the 1960s, I worked at a naval shipyard and several of my co-workers used
amphetamines known as "mini-bennies" or "whites." When these products were
taken off the market and made illegal, meth was reborn.

Today's meth labs are very similar to the illegal distilleries of the era
known as the "Noble Experiment." During our alcohol-prohibition era,
thousands died and thousands went blind or were crippled for life from what
was then known as "bathtub gin."

Like the meth of today, the "bathtub gin" was easily made from household
and industrial products. Like the meth of today, the "bathtub gin" was a
product created by Prohibition. Like the meth of today, illegal alcohol
could be manufactured just about anywhere.

Like the meth of today, Prohibition-era alcohol was of unknown quality,
potency and purity.

When alcohol prohibition ended in 1933, almost 100 percent of the "bathtub
gin" producers went out of business for economic reasons and stayed out of
business for economic reasons.

When alcohol prohibition ended in 1933, the U. S. murder rate declined for
10 consecutive years. Have we learned any lessons? Not yet.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.