high-school-athlete-drug-testing

GREATER EMPHASIS NEEDED ON REDUCING DRUG DEMAND

I hated to see them come down.  The artwork had adorned the lobby of the newspaper office for the better part of two weeks.  Even to the untrained eye it was easy to see the progression of experience exhibited in the work of the artists.  The submissions were part of a classified advertising "Say No to Drugs" promotion.  Local school children were encouraged to color in an anti-drug message that published in the newspaper.  They competed for prizes, but all of their work was on display in the office. 

I first remember the "Say No to Drugs" campaign gaining national momentum in 1980 when First Lady Nancy Reagan embraced the idea.  To a large degree the war on drugs focused on impeding the supply of drugs from places like Afghanistan, where poppy growing leads to a large trade in heroin and other drugs with an opium base, and Columbia, where cocoa beans form the basis of cocaine.  Battles have been won over the years, but if Vietnam was the first war America has lost, the war on drugs is the second. 

After seeing the movie "Traffic" four years ago, it was clear to me -- and I said so at the time in this column -- that stopping the supply of illegal drugs coming into this country was impossible given the demand for them and the price users were willing to pay.  At current levels, there is just too much money involved in the trade.  As long as the profits remain high, someone is going to take the risks involved with bringing them in the country for sale and distribution. 

That was then; today the nemesis of the local drug trade is not an imported product.  Methamphetamine is so easy to produce there are plenty of people manufacturing and selling it.  There is also a large amount produced for personal consumption by addicts.  Known on the street by names like speed, meth, crank and chalk, it is versatile in that one can smoke it, sniff it or inject it.  However it is consumed, the drug is a powerful stimulant that affects the central nervous system, produces increased activity and decreased appetite, and can lead to agitation -- even violence.  In January, the Washington Post reported that a 10-year-old girl in a small Indiana town was abducted and killed to keep her from revealing that methamphetamine was being cooked in an apartment near her home. 

In the not too distant past, there was a pungent and distinctive odor associated with the manufacture of drugs.  Many of the factories were located in isolated rural areas to protect the chemists from being detected.  According to Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs, the process today is so simple that you have them renting motel rooms and cooking it in the microwave. 

Law enforcement officials in many states around the country are watching with interest a program in Oklahoma that has been in operation for roughly 10 months.  The state became the first in the nation where pharmacies keep popular cold remedies behind the counter and identification is required to buy them. 

The Oklahoma law classifies pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in decongestants such as Sudafed, as a controlled substance.  It seems that it is also an ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine.  The law takes the cold medicines out of convenience stores and grocery stores and limits the amount consumers can buy at pharmacies.  Customers can buy no more than nine grams, or about 12 boxes of the drug, within a 30-day period.  If successful, Sudafed and other over-the-counter medicines may follow the path other, once easily available medicines have followed.  I remember when paregoric was a common pain killer our mothers rubbed on our gums for toothaches until creative junkies figured out it could produce a high if injected. 

The Oklahoma approach is another attempt to address the supply side of the equation.  It may prove to be a real asset because the popularity of meth is due in part to its low cost, relative to other illegal drugs.  But it still seems to me, what is really needed is more emphasis on reducing the demand.  One can hope that the 3-year-old boy taken by Child Protective Services from his pregnant mother arrested on drug charges this week in Brownwood will have the chance to submit his artwork in next year's contest. 

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Robert Brincefield is publisher of the Brownwood Bulletin.  His column appears on Sundays.