Pubdate: Thu, 11 Mar 2004
Source: Montgomery Advertiser (AL)
Copyright: 2004sThe Advertiser Co.
Contact:  http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1088
Author: Jannell McGrew
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

BILLS CRACK DOWN ON METH

In one year alone, Alabama law enforcement officials have busted hundreds 
of methamphetamine labs, and their job could get a lot easier if tougher 
laws are put in place, says one legislator who's leading the charge to do 
just that.

Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, announced three bills 
Wednesday that he is confident will help authorities crack down on 
methamphetamine producers.

Barron said the criminal activity has become an "epidemic" in rural Alabama.

"Crystal meth is the most horrible, devastating drug that I have ever seen 
in my pharmaceutical lifetime," Barron said during a news conference in the 
Senate chambers Wednesday morning. "This destroys families. The end course 
in most of the cases is death."

Legislation the senator is proposing would make it easier for authorities 
to prosecute the drug's producers, who authorities say can spend about $50 
at a local convenience store and make several grams of the highly addictive 
substance.

Senate Bill 386, if passed, would require the courts to hold the 
perpetrators responsible for all cleanup and forensic analysis costs, while 
SB 385 would make it a felony for merchants to sell ingredients they know 
will be used illegally.

Law enforcement officials in DeKalb County say their jurisdiction is among 
those rural areas with steadily increasing numbers of illegal laboratories 
- -- commonly known as "meth labs."

"This past year alone in DeKalb and Cherokee counties, we've busted over 
127 meth labs, which is more than the entire state of New York, Virginia, 
Delaware, New Jersey and four other New England states combined," said Mike 
O'Dell, DeKalb County district attorney. "Methamphetamine manufacturing is 
a rural phenomenon at this time."

Current state law stipulates that an individual must possess more than one 
methamphetamine ingredient before such possession is deemed illegal. 
Barron's third bill, SB 380, would make it illegal to possess any single 
ingredient with the intent to produce the dangerous drug.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the measures Wednesday. 
They now will go before the Senate for consideration.

"Hopefully we can turn this war around," Barron said. "Right now, we're not 
winning the war, but this is a step."

Montgomery County District Attorney Ellen Brooks said the explosive growth 
in rural areas has yet to hit her area.

"Montgomery County has not seen this development, possibly because we are 
more urban," Brooks said Wednesday. "The surrounding counties are more 
rural. If you're going to do this type of activity, you're more likely to 
be secluded to avoid detection."

She applauded Barron's proposals, noting that they should bolster judicial 
authorities' ability to prosecute drug crimes.

"I commend Sen. Barron for his efforts in this regard because it's not 
often that we can catch folks in the act of making these drugs," Brooks 
said. "It's easier and safer to be able to prosecute for possession of the 
ingredients and tools rather than the actual act."

Randall "R.H." Houston, district attorney for Autauga, Elmore and Chilton 
counties, said that within the last two months, his office has busted five 
meth labs in Elmore County alone.

"We're all the time chasing the meth dealers and the meth makers," Houston 
said. "They are springing up all over the place. It's really quite scary."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom