Should these clerks really be held responsible for what other people do with cough syrup? Is there really no ethnic bias, no discrimination based on language barrier or simple difference, in the overwhelming ethnic make-up of the prosecuted?

But before we even get to all of that, is there really even a meth epidemic going on? John Tierney doesn't think so. And if everyone, down to cough-syrup sellers, can be held responsible for the making and using of drugs, why can't the government be held responsible for not stopping this whole mess by legalizing and regulating it?