Pot times
Drug Profits
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1100/a14.htmlNewshawk: http://www.november.org
Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 DRUG PROFITS
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2005 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:
insight@orlandosentinel.com
Website: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Author: John Chase
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm
(Methamphetamine)
Regarding your July 3 editorial "A way to curb meth abuse": Why must
we now decide whether to restrict the sale of cold medicines because some might
be used to manufacture methamphetamine?
The reason is our failed antidrug policy: drug prohibition.
When I was a teen, amphetamine was sold over-the-counter for pennies to students
to cram for their exams, dieting housewives and long-haul truckers. It now
sells on the street as "meth" for more than $2,000 per ounce, and
"meth labs" endanger our kids and the environment.
When we first took it off the shelves, its price rose. That didn't work,
so we criminalized it. That drove its price sky high and rogue
entrepreneurs got into the business. That isn't working either. And
it is not just amphetamine.
For the past 30 years, this profit escalation has happened to drug after drug
after drug. Worse yet, the huge profit margin drives rogue chemists to
design new drugs, make it big, then get out before the DEA catches on.
The solution is to take out the profit. Regulate all drugs in a legal
market and use part of their tax revenue to offer treatment to all who ask.
Not a perfect solution, but better than what we have today.
John Chase
Palm Harbor
