Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 Source: Huntsville Times (AL) Copyright: 2005 The Huntsville Times Contact: http://www.htimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/730 Author: William H. Thomas TOSSING OUT MEDS WITH METH The city of Oakman has filed a lawsuit to ban the sale of Sudafed and other over-the-counter medication in Alabama to help curb its crystal meth problem, according to an Associated Press story published in The Times on March 25, page B3. Talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water. Perhaps the good folks in Oakman should sue to also make acetone, matchbooks and road flares illegal in the state as well, as they too can be used to cook crystal meth. Better yet, let's also ban gasoline, model glue, NyQuil and any other possible useful household item that junkies can abuse to get high on. The answer to Oakman's drug problem does not lie in a blanket ban of items that have legitimate legal uses, but rather in the continued crackdown of meth labs and the swift prosecution of offenders. It's beyond naive to think that crystal meth addicts won't simply follow the rest of us law-abiding citizens to neighboring states to get their pills. It's easy to see how Mayor Richard "Bull" Corry got his name because with this ridiculous lawsuit, he has clearly shown the rest of us in the state that he is full of it. William H. Thomas Madison - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin