Pubdate: Tue, 02 Mar 2004 Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN) Copyright: 2004 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. Contact: http://www.knoxnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/226 Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) SPREADING THE WORD CAN HELP COMBAT METH With the current methamphetamine scourge spreading, North Carolina's gain is not necessarily Tennessee's loss. Unfortunately, there is ample room and too many willing participants in both states to keep the meth wars going for a while. Law enforcement officers in Western North Carolina are among the latest to experience the insidious effects of methamphetamine on those who produce it as well as on their children and neighbors. East Tennesseans certainly should be sympathetic. Tennessee reportedly has the South's worst meth problems. Of the estimated 8,000 meth lab seizures in the United States last year, 1,150 were in the Volunteer State. The fact that the problem is spreading east across the state line does not mean it is leaving Tennessee. Last year, 34 meth labs were seized in Watauga County, N.C. In the heart-breaking side effect, social workers removed 17 children from homes where the chemicals had saturated the walls, furniture and carpet. Nearly 3,300 children were removed from homes nationwide last year, earning them the title "meth orphans." And, in a chilling aspect to the whole sorry episode involving meth making in North Carolina, children sometimes unwittingly brought on their parents' arrest. A first-grader, for example, explained to her teacher how to cook meth, and an older student included making meth in an essay on how the student spent summer vacation. That might be regarded as poetic justice for the makers, but it is part and parcel of the tragedy surrounding methamphetamine. Meth is a highly addictive and potent powder made from such common ingredients as pseudoephedrine from cold tablets, lithium from batteries and ammonia. After breathing, eating or injecting the product, users experience an energy rush. The addiction is compounded because each additional rush takes more and more powder - which means cooking larger quantities. Add to the problems the fact that the cookers are at times high on their product, and the situation becomes more volatile. Cleanup operations are expensive, costing from $2,000 to $4,000 to have hazardous materials teams and other specially trained workers restore the area to livability. This taxes the resources and funds of many local law enforcement agencies. In this state, the Tennessee Public Safety Coalition is asking the Legislature for tougher penalties for making and distributing methamphetamine. The group also supports a MethWatch program to help educate citizens about the dangers of methamphetamine. This is a problem that likely will require a multi-state or federal effort to combat and bring under control, and the two prongs of tougher enforcement and education are the most logical approaches. Any successes that Tennessee and North Carolina can share at this point might save lives. The fight also will require patience and attention, and it may take years - as the coalition's education proposal suggests. As such, it deserves widespread support from legislatures, schools, churches and other community-spirited groups. We must make it difficult to look the other way. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk