Pubdate: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Copyright: 2005 The Register-Guard Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362 Author: Allan Erickson Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n237.a09.html DRUG PROHIBITION ISN'T WORKING I'd like to thank the editors for their concern about our county and state - our nation's - methamphetamine problem: "Fighting a meth scourge: Legislators should make new bills a priority" (Register-Guard, Feb. 2). The truest part of the editorial was this simple statement: "Law enforcement officials readily admit they're losing the war against methamphetamine." Well, yeah. If the term "drug war" is exchanged for "prohibition," the true crux of the problem is laid bare. Prohibition is a policy doomed to failure. We proved that with our attempted prohibition of alcohol early in the 20th century. Addiction is a medical problem. There is a pharmaceutical form of meth, Desoxyn, used to treat attention deficit disorder in children. It sells for about $2 per 5 mg dose. Its constituent ingredients are regulated to guarantee purity, its sales regulated through prescription and pharmacies. Meth, however, is as unregulated as it gets. Prohibition creates a black market commodity and nullifies any establishment control or regulation, thus creating the criminality it purports to eliminate. Our county, state and nation do indeed have a drug problem. Prohibition is the instigator and can never be the cure. We have an epidemic of HIV and hepatitis in our prisons and among our needle-injecting drug users. We have an epidemic of irrational leadership when it comes to the war on (some) drugs. What makes Lane County any different? Allan Erickson Member Drug Policy Forum of Oregon - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin