Meth producers and prison

When it comes to drug enforcement, harsher penalties generally don't accomplish much. Users need help to overcome addictions, not lengthy jail sentences.

The exception, however, is for those who produce or sell the drugs.

Members of the Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force want state lawmakers to increase the minimum sentence to three years in prison for those caught producing meth. Currently, they must serve at least one year, but many of them end up leaving prison and going right back to their lucrative drug labs.

The increase makes sense. Meth abuse is among the most hideous plagues on modern society, and it has hit Utah especially hard. The drug finds its way here from Mexico, but much of it is produced locally, as well. An arrest last week in Salt Lake City illustrates why the production of this drug is such a menace. Police searching a man's apartment found a sizable amount of meth, but they also found fake checks. That kind of thing is typical.

Because the meth habit becomes so expensive and so difficult to shake, people often turn to other crimes such as forgery or identity theft to support the habit. In addition, the homes in which meth labs exist often are rendered uninhabitable. Harmful residue from the drug becomes embedded in the walls. In the worst cases, the labs themselves explode.

Anyone pushing such a thing on society deserves a stiff penalty. Those who are only using the drug, however, deserve effective treatment and prison sentences that enhance their return to society.

The task force recommends other things, such as stricter controls on the sale of over-the-counter cold medicines that contain chemicals used to produce meth. These recommendations are more problematic, especially the ones suggesting prescriptions for common products.

But there is nothing wrong with making drug pushers and producers serve real time for destroying lives.