Pubdate: Tue, 19 Apr 2005
Source: Tuscaloosa News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2005 The Tuscaloosa News
Contact:  http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1665
Author: Kirk Muse
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n613/a07.html

DRUG POLICIES ARE NOT WORKING

Dear Editor: I'm writing about: "Meth problem could make buying 
decongestant more difficult" (4-10-05). Keeping the ingredients of meth 
behind the counter is certainly a lot better solution than the previous 
non-solution of building more and bigger prisons.

Oklahoma learned the hard way that the so-called "tough on drugs" policies 
don't work and they are very expensive. Mostly because of their "tough on 
drugs" policies, Oklahoma became the fourth-highest state for incarcerations.

Mostly because of our war on drugs policies, the United States has been 
transformed into the most incarcerated nation in the history of human 
civilization. Even though we in the U. S. have fewer than 5 percents of the 
world's population, we have more than 25 percent of the world's prisoners.

In other words, one out of every four prisoners in the world in locked in 
an American jail or prison.

What message does this send to the rest of the world?

Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager