Pubdate: Tue, 04 Dec 2007
Source: Outlook (OR)
Copyright: 2007 Pamplin Media Group
Contact:  http://www.theoutlookonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4644
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

TAKE WAR ON METH TO ANOTHER LEVEL

Methamphetamine 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 
metropolitan 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.

A recent article in The Outlook detailed the shift that has occurred 
in meth trafficking in the two years since state legislators passed a 
law making it more difficult to obtain 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. 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 Portland area 
law-enforcement officers say that just as much methamphetamine, 
possibly even more, is available now.

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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom