Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 Source: Times-News, The (ID) Copyright: 2001 Magic Valley Newspapers Contact: http://www.magicvalley.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/595 Author: Brenda Larsen Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) METH MAN DIDN'T NEED TO DIE The Times-News tossed out a tantalizing morsel of cowboy logic last week, but we're not snapping it up. The doggerel went like this: because Meth Man's aggressive psychosis was self-induced through illegal drug-taking, it was proper to subdue him with bullets to the belly. The Bostonian who dared to come to Twin Falls and go berserk with a butter knife got exactly what he deserved, the editors tell us. Our sunny enjoyment of this piece of south Idaho justice is clouded only by fear of a $5 million fine. The gut-torn tourist has found a lawyer without a conscience and is suing the city, county, hospital and cop who shot him. No matter. All should go well if we get a wise judge who chuckles and then tosses the tort. But what if we don't get such a judge? It could be an expensive piece of satisfaction, this gunning down of a drug addict. Even if a court does not award the Meth Man his damages, somebody will have to pay his hundreds of thousands in medical bills. We can bet he does not have either the cash or the insurance to cover them and that, at the very least, the taxpayers will be stuck with this. While locals are hoping for the convenient legal judgment, Times-News readers are hoping, I hope, that the editors would be more sympathetic to a patient whose psychosis had more subtle causes. They would not argue, I presume, that an ordinary schizophrenic who became violent should be shot. Besides being expensive to tend to his wounds, it strikes many of us as morally abhorrent, medieval. Instead of celebrating the crude feeling of righteousness, they seem to feel in this case of the blasted Bostonian, Times-News editors should be calling for a review of the causes of this costly fiasco. Perhaps Canyon View mental hospital needs to re-evaluate its admittance procedures and to research newer methods of restraint. Perhaps our police need training in crisis management without bullets. The Wild West days are over, and editorial longings for justice at the end of a gun not withstanding, it is time we moved into the modern reality. Even if you chaps at the newspaper don't find it more humane, we'll all find it cheaper. BRENDA LARSEN Twin Falls - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager