drug war cowboys

The next thing you know you're inside, clearing rooms like a SWAT team on "Cops," firing only at targets with odd numbers. The even-numbered targets could be the good guys, even children. Everyone shoots at the dog. It's covered with paintball splatters.

Buried in this yippee-ka-yay bust-the-tweaker/zombies piece is an uncomfortable statistic:

Since 2004, about 44 states have restricted over-the-counter sales of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine products, which provide the basic ingredient in methamphetamine. While that's led to the significant drop in meth lab busts, almost 40 percent of local law-enforcement officials across the country still consider meth the greatest drug threat in their areas.

And, as our state's Rick Larsen points out, "There has been no drop in the use of meth."

The decline in lab busts--leading, hopefully, to a reduction in collateral damage--is the only bright spot in a war that has militarized police, dehumanized drug addicts, trampled all over civil liberties, and killed innocent bystanders.