Crack cocaine: Silent urban killer

To the editor:Recently I introduced House Bill 1189 to place restrictions on the purchase and accounting of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). The bill's language is similar to that passed a few years ago placing restrictions on the purchase of all medicines containing pseudoephedrine to stymie methamphetamine production. Baking soda is a component in the production of crack cocaine.

The primary intent of this bill is to create a dialogue on drugs, specifically a drug that has ravaged urban communities across the country since the early 1980s. I consider crack cocaine the urban core's silent killer, because we don't hear anything relative to the abatement of this drug or dialogue as to its far-reaching and devastating impact on the moral, social and economic fabric of our neighborhoods and families.

In many ways, the attention given to the growth and rapid devastation of meth has overshadowed crack cocaine. Rural communities were admirably relentless in fighting the spread of meth through legislative action.

HB 1189 to some seems extreme, but the extreme conditions in our community require action that may appear extreme. What is disheartening is the fact that our state has failed to place this issue at the forefront. Maybe in the frenzy to develop the physical infrastructure of our community, we are failing to invest in the development of the community's social and moral structure. Maybe this bill won't be the answer. But doing nothing definitely isn't the answer.

State Rep. TALIBDIN "T.D." EL-AMIN, 57th District, Missouri House of Representatives, St. Louis