Pubdate: Thu,  7 Feb 2002
Source: Decatur Daily (AL)
Copyright: 2002 The Decatur Daily
Contact:  http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/index.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/696
Author: Arthur Cole
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n158/a10.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

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.
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