Pot times July 15, 2005

Meth Math

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1117/a04.html
Newshawk: _Humphrey Ploughjogger_ (http://MassCann.org)

Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jul 2005
Source: Boston Weekly Dig (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Boston Weekly Dig
Contact: letters@weeklydig.com
Website: http://www.weeklydig.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1515

METH MATH

IN A TEXTBOOK case of Washington being out of touch with what's happening in the country, the federal government has declared marijuana the nation's biggest drug problem, ignoring an epidemic of methamphetamine addiction in the West, the South, and the Midwest.  Local law enforcement officials are howling because the Bush administration is actually planning to drop an $804 million grant program that has helped them deal with the proliferation of makeshift laboratories producing meth, a drug whose danger is heightened by its low cost.  The White House bases the higher priority it places on marijuana on data showing there are 15 million regular marijuana users and just 1 million meth users.  But that bean-counting approach overlooks how much more devastating meth is to users.

The drug produces an intense rush followed by a crash and is highly addictive.

A survey by the National Association of Counties released last week found that officials in nearly 60 percent of all counties listed meth as their most serious drug problem.

Marijuana, at 17 percent, was third on the list, after cocaine, at 19 percent.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration itself says 7,438 meth labs were busted in 1999 and 17,033 last year.  The toll that meth takes is especially visible in the large number of children nationwide who have to go into shelters or foster homes because their parents have been arrested for meth production or use or are too incapacitated by the drug to care for their youngsters.  In the survey of county officials, 40 percent of child welfare officials reported that meth had led to an increase in the number of children removed from homes.  Social service agencies say the degree of neglect and hunger suffered by children of parents who use meth is greater than with any other drug.  The drug also leads to higher rates of burglaries, identity theft, and domestic abuse.  In many states with severe meth problems, laws have been passed or are being weighed to limit sales of cold medicines with ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, ingredients used in meth production.  Senators Dianne Feinstein, of California, a Democrat, and Jim Talent, of Missouri, a Republican, have sponsored federal legislation that would limit purchases of cold medicine by any individual on a monthly basis.

How useful such measures would be on a long-term basis is questionable, however, since much of the meth is coming in from foreign sources.  There is a strong consensus among local officials against ending the grant program, which coordinated and financed antidrug efforts among local, state, and federal authorities.  In setting priorities for federal funds, combatting meth should rate higher than dissuading high school students from smoking marijuana.