A better policy to fight meth

To the editor:

I'm writing about your thoughtful June 11 editorial, "Methamphetamine."

Keeping the ingredients of meth behind the counter is certainly a lot better solution than the previous non-solution of building more and bigger prisons.

Oklahoma learned the hard way that the so-called "tough on drugs" policies don't work and are expensive. Largely because of their "tough on drugs" policies, Oklahoma became the fourth highest state for incarcerations.

Largely because of our war on drugs policies, the United States has been transformed into the most incarcerated nation in the history of human civilization. Even though we in the U. S. have fewer than 5 percent of the world's population, we have more than 25 percent of the world's prisoners.

In other words, one out of every four prisoners in the world in locked in an American jail or prison. What message does this send to the rest of the world?

KIRK MUSE, Mesa, Ariz.