rigorousintuition.ca

Op-Ed Column Published August 9, 2005:<br><br>Debunking the Drug War<br><br>By JOHN<br>TIERNEY<br><br>America has a serious drug problem, but it's not the "meth epidemic" getting so much publicity...<br> <br>This problem afflicts a small minority of the people who have tried methamphetamines... <br><br>Amphetamines can certainly do harm and are a fad in some places. But there's little evidence of a new national epidemic from patterns of drug<br>arrests or drug use...<br> <br>Nor is meth diabolically addictive...according to the federal government's National Survey on Drug Use<br>and Health.<br><br>That figure is slightly higher than the addiction rate for people who have sampled heroin (3 percent)...<br><br>Amphetamine pills were easily available, sold over the counter until the 1950's, then routinely prescribed by doctors to patients who wanted to lose weight or stay awake. It was only after the authorities cracked down<br>in the 1970's that many people turned to home labs, criminal gangs and more dangerous ways of ingesting the drug...<br><br>Amphetamines have benefits, too, which is why Air Force pilots are given them. "Most people took amphetamines responsibly when they were freely<br>available," said Jacob Sullum, the author of "Saying Yes," a book debunking drug scares. "Like most drugs, their benefits outweigh the costs for most people. I'd rather be driving next to a truck driver on speed<br>than a truck driver who's falling sleep."...<br><br>Shutting down every meth lab in America wouldn't eliminate meth because most of it is imported...<br><br>In Georgia they're prosecuting dozens of Indian convenience-store clerks and managers for selling cold medicine and other legal products [used to manufacture bathtub meth]...<br><br><br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>