In a new statement, Senior Health Policy Fellow at the Cato Institute Dr. Jeffrey Singer, addresses the ongoing meth crisis affecting Portland, Maine.

America’s endless and unwinnable war on (some) drugs is a game of Whack-a-Mole. The nation declared a “meth crisis” in 2006 and responded by restricting access to pseudoephedrine—the only effective oral decongestant—and tracking people who bought it. Meth production didn’t stop; it moved south of the border, and traffickers developed more potent and efficient methods. By 2020, while attention was on the opioid crisis, meth-related deaths had surged 1,400 percent.

Now, Portland, Maine is seeing the same pattern of devastation. Decades of research show that the overdose crisis isn’t about any one drug—it’s a steady, long-term trend dating back to the 1950s, with different substances rising and falling in popularity. Prohibition doesn’t stop drug use; it makes it more dangerous. Preliminary studies suggest medications like Ozempic may one day reduce stimulant cravings. But the surest way to reduce death and destruction is the same solution we chose for alcohol in 1933: legalization and regulation.

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