U.S. SHOULD REGULATE METH

Your editorial on methamphetamine was well done. Meth is a dangerous
substance with a high potential for abuse.

The question I am left with, however, is this: If meth is so dangerous,
both in the manufacture and the use, why on earth are we leaving it in
control of the black market? I am firmly convinced that all of the dangers
and problems of meth that you highlighted can be greatly reduced, if not
eliminated, by bringing meth under federal and state regulation.

By allowing users to legally obtain meth at a pharmacy with a doctor's
prescription, you will achieve the following:

The dangerous and environmentally destructive private meth lab will become
a thing of the past. Just as alcohol prohibition led to countless thousands
of homemade stills (which also had a tendency to explode), drug prohibition
has brought on the meth lab.

The most potent and dangerous forms of meth will be replaced by a
regulated, uniform standard. That means no more poisoned or adulterated
meth on the street and will go a long way toward eliminating the
hallucinations described in your editorial.

Drug users now will be going to their doctors rather than the street for
their narcotics, greatly increasing the chance of rehabilitation. This will
greatly reduce drug abuse in our nation, not increase it as many so-called
"experts" claim.

One thing is clear: Until the United States starts to attack the drug
problem with common sense and science rather than morality and political
posturing, we will continue to lose more and more people to drug addiction.

Arthur Cole, Hope Valley, R.I.