(Oregonian) WASHINGTON — A predominantly Republican congressional committee thrashed the White House drug czar’s office Tuesday, saying it should scrap its failed national drug control strategy and craft an emergency plan to halt the epidemic spread of methamphetamine.

“This committee is trying desperately to say, ‘Lead! You’re the executive branch,” said Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., who led the hearing on the spread of meth across the nation’s heartland.

“It’s the most dangerous drug in America, and we want ONDCP to acknowledge it,” said Souder, who is chairman of the Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources subcommittee of Government Reform.

“The meth issue is totally out of hand,” [Rep. John] Mica [R-FL] said “We need a plan. I don’t hear anything that sounds like a plan. This needs to be done on an emergency, expedited basis.”

“Meth is the biggest threat to the United States, maybe even including al-Qaida,” [Rep. Tom] Osborne [R-NE] said.

Boy, I hate it when I have to agree with Mark Souder, John Mica, and Tom Osbourne, but they’re right. Meth is the country’s biggest drug scourge. I experienced it first hand and nearly lost my life. Home meth labs endanger neighborhoods with the potential for explosion and the poison the environment. People in the grips of meth addiction can easily become violent and paranoid. Children of meth addicts suffer from the deadly hazardous chemicals in their home, not to mention malnutrition and neglect. It’s powerfully addicting nature, ridiculously cheap price, and lucrative black market make it very alluring, especially for poor, working class, and rural people struggling to get by.

So you can understand how average people with common sense (or even Congressmen) get very upset when they hear this kind of rhetoric from the ONDCP:

“We have to deal with the fact that there are more kids in treatment for marijuana than for all other drugs combined,” [Deputy Drug Czar Scott] Burns said.

Aside from the fact that more people are in marijuana treatment because there are more courts that sentence marijuana offenses by mandating treatment, this kind of thinking ignores the elephant in the room when it comes to American attitudes toward marijuana. 72 percent of Americans support fines, but no jail time, for adults who use cannabis recreationally. 14.6 million Americans who have used marijuana at least once a month, 25.2 million at least once a year, and 96.6 million who admit to having at least tried marijuana sometime in their lives.

You want to seriously combat meth? Legalize marijuana. Take all that police and judicial manpower and put it toward the real menace. Regulate and tax the marijuana and reap up to $14 BILLION in funds to put toward fighting meth. And just maybe those people with an innate need to get high will turn to growing a plant instead of building a toxic chemistry set.

People aren’t stupid. The idea that meth and marijuana are both lumped into the same category of “dangerous illegal drugs” is ludicrous on its face. Nobody fears potheads breaking into their homes and stealing for a fix. Nobody’s afraid of an assault from a maniacal pothead (talk about your oxymorons!). Nobody’s worried about the indoor marijuana grow-op next door blowing up and destroying property, endangering lives, and polluting the environment. The only thing people fear regarding potheads are the big-time pot producers who must guard their crop with guns and pit bulls (since they can’t count on the cops or courts) and the body-armor-clad, assault-weapon-wielding, concussion-grenade-lobbing DEA stormtroopers who batter down their doors to bust them — and those acts of violence exist solely because marijuana is prohibited.

Furthermore, when people are confronted by the logical contradictions of marijuana prohibition, they can’t help but lose respect for the government that promulgates that policy. You can own an assault weapon, but you can’t grow a plant? A doctor can prescribe cocaine, but not cannabis? We can face the annual deaths of 500,000 alcohol and tobacco users and still decide it’s safest to regulate, educate, and accept those drugs; yet the drug that never killed anyone and doesn’t cause cancer or vehicular manslaughter remains illegal?

Stop the madness. Fight meth by legalizing pot. (And while we’re at it, the resulting legal crop of hemp may even grow out way out of our other national epidemic: addiction to foreign oil.)