Pubdate: Thu, 20 Oct 2005
Source: Monterey County Weekly (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Milestone Communications Inc
Contact:  http://www.montereycountyweekly.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3959
Author: Ann Lucas

METH: NOT THAT BAD

Your cover story on meth use couldn't have come at a better time.

I teach a college course about drug use and abuse in the US. Recently 
my class has been discussing the history of American media coverage 
of drug issues. Your meth story provided a perfect, real-life, 
up-to-the-minute example of the exaggeration and hyperbole that has 
characterized our media's coverage of drug problems for at least the 
past 80 years.

Despite its utility as a teaching tool, the article's appearance 
saddened me, since I normally find the Weekly a refreshingly honest 
and objective source of information. But your claim that meth is "the 
most deadly recreational drug" is simply false. That honor probably 
goes to heroin, which has a much, much higher rate of fatal overdoses 
per use. (If you meant death due to long-term use, the deadliest 
still isn't meth, it's nicotine.)

Similarly, there is no good evidence that meth is now, or ever will 
be, "the most popular" recreational drug in this county, or elsewhere 
in the US. Evidence shows that marijuana is much, much more widely 
used, and that cocaine, Ecstasy, hallucinogens, painkillers and 
tranquilizers all have higher rates of recreational use than methamphetamine.

Nor is meth "lethally addictive," whatever your reporter meant by 
that. Meth is neither instantly or universally addictive, nor is it 
always lethal to users, abusers, or even addicts.

That local law enforcement think meth use is on the rise, that more 
arrestees are testing positive for meth, or that there are more 
meth-related arrests, tells us little about meth's actual popularity 
or usage rates among the general population.

Clearly, meth is a dangerous and highly addictive drug that is 
associated with property crime, severe health risks, environmental 
damage, and family dysfunction, among other things. But exaggerating 
its dangers and popularity is irresponsible. The Weekly can do better.

- --Ann Lucas

Salinas 
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