Pubdate: Thu, 29 Nov 2007
Source: Lake Oswego Review, The (OR)
Copyright: 2007 Pamplin Media Group
Contact:  http://www.lakeoswegoreview.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4634
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH FIGHT MUST GO TO THE SOURCE IN MEXICO

Methamphetamine Awareness Day Will Be Held For The Second Straight Year Friday

Methamphetamine, a most addictive and destructive substance, is no 
longer flowing out of a meth lab located in a home next door or a 
building down the street. Instead, it is streaming across the 
U.S.-Mexican border and into the Portland area in seemingly greater 
quantities than before.

One possible response to this trend might be for citizens to throw up 
their hands and say that all of Oregon's efforts to control 
methamphetamine have been for naught - that it is futile to try to 
stamp out this scourge.

That would be exactly the wrong reaction.

Rather, the latest news about meth should be viewed as evidence that 
a focused and collaborative approach by citizens, legislators and 
law-enforcement officers can make an appreciable difference in the 
war against meth.

Imported meth now the problem

An article in the Lake Oswego Review last week detailed the shift 
that has occurred in meth trafficking over the past two years. It was 
in 2005 that state legislators passed a law making it more difficult 
to obtain cold medicines that contain the main ingredient used to 
manufacture meth.

By at least one measure, the law has been a spectacular success - the 
number of meth-lab busts, once a daily occurrence, has plummeted in 
Oregon to a mere 14 this year.

But the progress hasn't been without unwelcome consequences. Now that 
meth isn't available from local labs, Mexican drug cartels have 
stepped in to increase supplies. And metro area law-enforcement 
officers say that as much methamphetamine, possibly even more, is 
available now.

No one can argue that eliminating the labs was a bad thing.

Fewer labs mean the toxic chemicals used by meth cooks threaten fewer 
neighbors. Fewer meth labs means fewer children are growing up abused 
and neglected within homes where manufacturing a drug was the only 
thing on their parents' minds.

But no one should be lulled into thinking that the human costs of 
meth addiction have disappeared. The drug still is creating new 
addicts each day at a great cost to individual users and society as a whole.

Additional action can be taken

That's why it's important that one victory - the virtual elimination 
of labs in Oregon - must lead to a new round of action. It's a 
fallacy to believe that nothing can be done to stop imported meth.

Even now, U.S. pressure on the Mexican government to crack down on 
meth is having an effect: Prices of imported meth are up, and purity 
is down. Oregon's congressional delegation must insist that the 
pressure on Mexico remains unrelenting.

Similarly, the Oregon Legislature must revisit the issue and 
determine how the state can combat imported meth. Lawmakers already 
have increased Oregon State Police staffing - an agency that ought to 
be involved in interrupting the transportation of meth into Oregon.

But surely the most effective tool against imported meth would be to 
decrease demand. And that's where all citizens, especially parents, 
can help by knowing the warning signs of meth use and by supporting 
community-based education and treatment programs.

On Friday, many groups working against meth are marking, for the 
second year, what they call Methamphetamine Awareness Day. It is a 
timely reminder that despite progress in the war against meth, too 
many lives still are being stolen by this terrible addiction.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom