Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2005
Source: Quad-City Times (IA)
Copyright: 2005 Quad-City Times
Contact:  http://www.qctimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/857
Author: Robert Sharpe
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

COMBAT METH USE WITH TREATMENT, NOT PRISON

How should Iowa respond to the growing use of methamphetamine?  During the 
crack epidemic of the eighties, New York City chose the zero tolerance 
approach, opting to arrest and prosecute as many offenders as 
possible.  Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was smoking crack 
and America's capital had the highest per capita murder rate in the 
country.  Yet crack use declined in both cities simultaneously.

Simply put, the younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing to 
their older brothers and sisters and decided for themselves that crack was 
bad news.  This is not to say nothing can be done about 
methamphetamine.  Access to drug treatment is critical for the current 
generation of meth users.  Diverting resources away from prisons and into 
cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars and lives.

Robert Sharpe

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Beth