Pubdate: Fri, 26 Dec 2003
Source: Daily Post-Athenian (Athens, TN)
Copyright: 2003 The Daily Post-Athenian
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/1673
Website: http://dpa.xtn.net/
Author: Richard Edwards, Managing Editor

COUNTIES PASS RESOLUTIONS - SEEKING TOUGHER METH PENALTIES

With methamphetamine production having developed into a major problem
in Tennessee, a resolution is making its way through county
legislative bodies with the aim of seeking tougher state penalties.

Both the McMinn County Commission and the Meigs County Commission
adopted their versions of the resolution during meetings last week.

Commissioner J.W. McPhail, who introduced the measure at the McMinn
County meeting, said it had already been adopted by other county
commissions.

McPhail added "there's a lot of interest" in creating a stiff
deterrent to methamphetamine manufacturing and sales.

Chuck Pope, an assistant district attorney in the 10th District
Attorney General's Office, said current sentencing guidelines for
methamphetamine convictions would range, depending on a defendant's
criminal history and the amount of the drugs involved.

Another assistant district attorney, Wylie Richardson, describes
methamphetamine as a "scourge on this part of the state.

"The current measures we feel are not strong enough to have the
desired effect we want," Richardson said.

The resolution adopted by the McMinn County Commission requests action
by the state Legislature regarding the "manufacture, sale,
distribution and possession of the illicit drug methamphetamine."

The resolution states meth is the second most widely abused illicit
drug in the world and the most prevalent synthetic drug manufactured
in the United States.

It's a highly-addictive stimulant that can cause fatal health
disorders as well as other physical and mental problems, "resulting in
damage and destruction of family life and excessive costs to society,"
the resolution states.

The resolution adds it would be in the best interests of McMinn County
for the Legislature to stiffen the penalties for methamphetamine and
its components, including the statutory requirement of mandatory jail
time.

The resolution concludes with the request that the Legislature be
advised of the County Commission's concern over meth and its
destructive effects "and that this Commission further requests that
laws be erected to enhance the punishment for manufacture, sale,
distribution and possession of methamphetamine, including mandatory
jail time."

Also, it asks that the district attorney's office be advised of the
Commission's action and its desire for violators to be punished "to
the fullest extent allowed by law."

McPhail said he understood that it costs approximately $3,500 to clean
up a meth lab. Commissioners approved the resolution unanimously and
with little discussion at last week's meeting.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake