Twenty years ago, the United States began using harsh drug sentencing in an attempt to curb illegal drug use. Beginning with New York's Rockefeller drug laws, the impact filled prisons as fast as the state and federal governments could build them. Today, communities have difficulty assimilating enormous numbers of people that prison didn't fix. Drug offenders, banned from housing, jobs, children -- even food assistance in some states, struggle to re-enter society. There's more to the meth crisis than most might know. Learn what you can do to ensure drug laws make fiscal and common sense. They often don't.

Creating Moral Panic
Reports, Research and Rejection
Methamphetamine Crisis: Hype or Fact? Factsheet from Common Sense for Drug Policy (PDF Format)
Frontline: The Meth Epidemic (Review); from Miami Herald (FL), 2/15/06
Is this News, or a Get Tough Movement we can't afford? by Nora Callahan
This is Your Country on Meth; from Slate.com
What Meth Epidemic? National Survey Shows Amphetamine Use Unchanged from Drug War Chronicle
Study Claiming Methamphetamine is Overrunning Hospital Emergency Rooms Fails to Withstand Scrutiny; from Drug War Chronicle

Meth in the News, but often unnoticed - updated regularly!
January 6, 2006 - East Valley Tribune (AZ), Public Corruption - Will Mordida Put Bite On Arizona?

Community Perspectives on Meth
January 11, 2006 - Whidbey News-Times (WA) - Government Harasses Us Again
July 12, 2005 - Orlando Sentinel (FL) - Drug Profits

What you probably don't know about meth and the people that use it:
Eyes of Compassion View Meth Problem, by David Singh for Practitioner Perspectives, U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance bulletin dated May 2001.
"Meth" - New Epidemic, Old Drug by Chuck Armsbury, published as a special community perspective to Spokane, WA's Spokesman-Review, on March 24, 2002
Volcanic Ash: How to Save a Mackey Feary, By David Shapiro, The Honolulu Advertiser

Does over-policing make a community safer, stronger? December 2005 - Lecture (Quicktime & transcript) by Nora Callahan with transcript - Criminal Actors, the Informant System and the Drug War
December 12, 2004 - The Fresno Bee (CA) - Hidden Role In Drug World -Informants Used In Most Narcotics Busts
Snitching: The Institutional And Communal Consequences (PDF download) By Alexandra Natapoff, Associate Professor of Law, Loyola
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: download a 4 minute film online

What you might not know about determinate sentencing, mandatory minimum and sentencing guidelines:
Understanding US Sentencing Laws: a Layperson Speaks, by Nora Callahan
Informal, Hidden Procedures Define Injustice, by Nora Callahan
What Judges Have to Say!

Prisoners of the War on Meth - are your tax dollars working to make people safe?
Susan Spry Danny Hill Jackie Quarterman Preston Mays George Farley Jeff Nespor Diana Webb Lisa Hanna Sandra Patterson Charles Gibson, Michael Cummings Curtis Slade Kevin Evink Beverly Barnett Beth Cronan Connie Popejoy Kevin Sovie

Outside Links, what other groups are doing to create effective meth laws:
Treatment Works!
Knox Co. Jail Volunteers Deal with Meth Aftermath
New Mexico Coalition Releases - Recommendations
Eyes of Compassion View the Meth Problem
Treatment Facts