[Jeff Higgins]

I see meth as the innevitable result of this miss-guided war on drugs. By attempting to cut off access to the naturally derived drugs, authorities have created a new monster far worse than any of them. It used to pretty much fly under the radar as it can be locally produced from (formerly) easy to find, cheap ingrediants. By cutting out much of the distribution network the risk to dealers is reduced to the level of selling locally grown pot. And production is far more portable. The perfect illicit drug, really, save for its horrible side-affects. Side-affects not shared, by the way, with any other naturally derived drugs. The authorities know this, and are pumping it for all its worth.

Meth has actually been quite a boon to the "zero tolerance", "war on drugs" crowd. They get to parade its addicts, and their ruined lives in front of society and claim that all drugs result in this. It's pretty damn hard to find a pot smoker, coke snorter, or opiate user that looks like that (o.k.m maybe some serious heroin addicts). Meth actually does have a long-term adverse and irreversable affect on health; unlike other recreational drugs. Except of course alcohol, whose long-term affects (when abused) are well documented.

I have to think meth use would decline if other drugs were legalized and readily available. Like some others that have fessed up, I too have had some history with recreational drugs. As a matter of fact, you would be hard-pressed to name one I didn't use at one time or another. But that's another story altogether... Anyway, "speed", as we called it then, was at the bottom of the list as far as desireability. I just dind't like it, and no one I knew really went looking for it. I found the experience unpleasant, especially compared to the natually derived drugs. I have to think it gained a foothold as a drug odf convenience, and it would lose that if others were as convenient.