Pubdate: Thu, 01 Apr 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 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) STATE SHOULD NOT DUCK METH PROBLEMS Tennessee reportedly has the worst methamphetamine problem in the South, if not the nation. Hundreds of children have been removed from their homes where their parents have been involved in producing or using the dangerous drug. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials and child protection caseworkers predict the problem is likely to become worse before it gets better. Faced with this monumental issue, the state's lawmakers have taken an entirely baffling step: A legislative panel has punted the matter to the governor, seeking appointment of a task force to study the issue and report next year. This is the wrong move. Issues like tax reform call for deliberation. Methamphetamine is a serious crime, and legislators need to develop a sense of urgency in dealing with it. More than 30 bills have been filed in the Legislature this session to deal with illegally manufacturing and distributing meth. Several of the bills would increase prison sentences for meth sales and production. Earlier this year, the Tennessee Public Safety Coalition, a statewide group of district attorney generals, chiefs of police and sheriffs, pleaded for legislation to strengthen the criminal laws dealing with the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. The coalition also strongly supported MethWatch, a program to educate citizens about the dangers of meth. Even if some of the bills pass, their effectiveness would be in doubt because of funding. State spending on prisons would increase beyond what is anticipated with the planned addition of about 2,000 inmate beds. We understand the complexity of the problem. Methamphetamine hit the state at least a decade ago; manufacture and use of the product have found a home in the hollows and hills of Middle and East Tennessee. It is primarily a rural phenomenon, with only limited appearances in urban locales. The rural nature of the crime makes it more difficult to detect. But lawmakers need to consider that it is not going to recede while they study the issue, no matter how seriously they regard it. Panel chairman Sen. Steve Cohen noted, "The idea of just putting people in jail is not a very effective way to deal with the problem." Since when? Granted, long-term solutions and rehabilitation are needed, but incarceration is the best alternative right now for breaking up meth labs and getting innocent children away from their addicted parents and guardians. And the children might well be the heart and soul of this whole sorry scourge. The Tennessee Department of Children's Services took custody of about 700 children from their meth-making parents in the 18 months prior to last July - according to the department's most recent count. "It is different from anything we have ever faced before," said Rep. Judd Metheny, a Tullahoma Republican who sponsored one of the bills increasing penalties for making methamphetamine. "We are looking down the barrel of another 2,000 children having to be removed from their homes." Those displaced children should be on the minds of each legislator and each task force member every day they deliberate. The emotional cost to those innocents now and as they grow older makes the state's lack of funding little more than a sorry excuse. This is one of those times the state needs to find its money and its conscience. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager