Posted on 12/23/2006 1:37:38 PM PST by neverdem
Last month, President Bush declared Nov. 30 "National Methamphetamine Awareness Day."
The official statement from the White House implored, "I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities."
There's no question that meth is a particularly nasty, vicious drug, both in how it's manufactured and in what it does to the people who use it. I think some skeptics have raised legitimate questions about the accuracy of some of the more hysterical media proclaiming we're in the midst of an "epidemic," but there's no question that the drug is widely available, and that it has some pretty terrible effects on users.
That said, the approaches the government is taking toward attacking meth don't make much sense.
As is often the case with policies aimed at curbing the drug supply, civil liberties were one of the first casualties of the meth hysteria. Several cities and states, for example, quickly made it illegal for businesses to sell customers combinations of ingredients that together, are used to make meth, but that are perfectly legal if bought separately.
Sell bhutane, cold medicine, and matches to the same customer, and an unknowing store clerk could well be arrested. These laws effectively deputized private business to begin policing the shopping habits of their customers – never a good idea.
The idea has led to some horrific outcomes.
In Northwest Georgia, for example, a meth sting ended with the arrest of 49 convenience store clerks for violating the odd new law. The problem is that 47 of the clerks were of Indian decent, and spoke only broken English. When undercover police officers tossed out drug lingo like "cooking up a hit," the clerks had no idea what they were talking about.
More troubling,...
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
From what I've been reading, states are reporting a big drop in the number of local meth labs.
"Through May of this year, the Texas Department of Public Safety had seized 86 meth labs, down from 382 the previous year ..."
"With the reduction of meth labs within the state, North Carolina plans to put resources towards reducing meth trafficking and use."
"U.S. Attorney John Richter in Oklahoma City says the good news is the reduction in the number of makeshift meth labs in Oklahoma."
"The number of methamphetamine drug labs reported in Washington in 2004 decreased for the third year in a row"
"I'm sick and bloody tired of 'feel good' laws that do more harm to law abiding citizens than anything."
An inconvenience, sure. But at least Congress didn't take the easy route and just ban pseudoephedrine/ephedrine or make it only available with a prescription.
Foreign labs have made up the difference. Meth use has been fairly flat over the last few years.
The goal was to reduce/eliminate the local labs. They're dangerous plus they're expensive to clean up.
Which is what they ALL should have been doing from the get go.
An inconvenience, sure.
Tell that to someone who wakes up at 2am and is out of effective cold medicine and there are no open pharmacies.
But at least Congress didn't take the easy route and just ban pseudoephedrine/ephedrine or make it only available with a prescription.
Apparently at least one state has done so.
Trafficking and use is not down and these stupid laws have put an unneeded restriction on law-abiding citizens. I should NOT be restricted in my lawful purchases just to make some people feel they have done something, however trivial, about criminals.
Wouldn't a bounty on meth heads be easier?
The effect that's usually not mentioned is that we're putting the mom and pop meth labs out of business, which means the professional level Mexican meth labs are getting more customers. Where the locals were fairly easy to find and take down, the pros are much smarter... and meaner.
And... of course... we know where some of that cross-border money goes. Somehow, when I'm sitting at home late at night suffering through a sinus headache, I don't find it in the least big consoling to know that my suffering is helping enrich the Mexican government.
If it were up to me, I would repeal the war on some drugs, the DEA and BATF & E too. IMHO, making all this crap illegal just gives more profit to the black market and organized crime, not to mention how this weakens civil liberties. It has been just as effective as alcohol prohibition.
Connecting the War on Guns & Drugs [my title]
The war on guns: Joel Miller explains how drug cops are killing 2nd Amendment
bkarmk
I'll second your motion. :)
http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/DrugIssue/MethResources/faces/index.html
Check out the "faces of meth", click on the pictures for before and after photos of meth addiction.
If it's that important, make sure to buy it when the pharmacy is open. Geez, I can't run your life AND mine.
I don't want YOU running my life - that is my point.
Why the flip should I have to drive 30 miles to get something I could have easily gotten at the corner supermarket? Just to make you feel like you've done something to curb illegal drug use? I don't think so.
Thanks for the links. It's a nasty addiction, but I don't think the law enforcement approach is the way to make progress.
I truly despise nanny-statists, or communitarians, as you call them. I like that term, never read it before.
You've got that right!
When my husband stopped to get some cold medicine for our son this evening at the local grocery, they were selling it 50-75% off. Why? They decided that selling it was a big hassle and not worth their time.
Smaller mom & pop stores are dumping their supplies and I honestly can't blame them. I *hate* having to scramble to find an open pharmacy, wait for the parade of senior citizens (no offense), then get treated like a criminal just for a decongestant.
Law-abiding citizens should NOT be needlessly inconvenienced for the feel-good ideas of a few do-gooders.
I'm not some "legalize all drugs" type, I just happen to be someone that occassionally gets a head cold, has a child, and a husband who all get them at times, plus we all suffer from various forms of allergies. Mine happen to manifest themselves when the weather shifts drastically and show up in the form of eczema and I'm suffering mightily from it right now....fortunatly for me I can still get benedryl without a hassle.
I don't blame the stores for discontinuing the sale of the products, but it just adds to customer inconvenience, and the loss of a product in stores that already probably work on a very small profit margin.
Absolute insanity.
And I wish conservatives would learn to use it instead of misusing the fine old word "liberal"
Remember to get gas tomorrow. The gas stations will be closed for Christmas. I don't want you coming back to the board, crying about the inconvenience of Christian holidays, demanding we end them so you won't have to suffer the consequences of not having your $hit together.
Exactly. Outrage is properly expressed at the legislators that vote in this nonsense. I certainly gave mine an earful.
Spot on. The meth will simply be shipped across the southern border along with all of the other "illegal" drugs. I'm sorry, but this type of nonsense is only demonstrating the futility of the approach, and making me think about just legalizing everything.
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