Pubdate: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC) Copyright: 2004 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc. Contact: http://www.journalnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504 Note: The Journal does not publish letters from writers outside its daily home delivery circulation area. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS LONGER PRISON TIME FOR METH-MAKERS A legislative committee recommended yesterday that the General Assembly pass several bills designed to stiffen penalties for people who make methamphetamines. The number of meth labs discovered by authorities, particularly in Western North Carolina, have surged in recent years. State officials, particularly Attorney General Roy Cooper, have pushed for more equipment, training and enforcement tools to root out the labs. With Cooper in attendance, the committee signed off on four bills that would increase prison time for people who manufacture the drug or make it in the presence of children. A manufacturer also could be found guilty of second-degree murder if someone fatally overdoses on meth they made. "The penalties for manufacturing very seldom result in anytime behind bars," Cooper said after the meeting. Sheriffs are "complaining to me that these meth lab (makers) are back on the streets before the paperwork is done." The primary bill, drafted for the committee, would upgrade the felony for manufacturing meth from a Class H crime to Class C. That would nearly double the maximum prison time from 25 to 49 months. Currently, first-time offenders can receive community service. Putting more people in prison will lead to less crime, since those addicted to the drug often are agitated and violent, proponents argue. The legislation also would allow judges to consider manufacturing the drug in a home where children are present as an aggravating factor in sentencing. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart