Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jul 2005
Source: Star-News (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Wilmington Morning Star
Contact:  http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

COMPROMISE WITH A CHILD ABUSER?

As the N.C. House wrings its hands about whether to make it a bit 
harder to produce a vicious addictive drug, children are being 
endangered, neglected, abused and sent to foster homes. Families are 
being destroyed. Lives are being ruined.

And North Carolina taxpayers will get most of the resulting bills -- 
for child care, medical care, law enforcement, courts, prisons and 
the clean up of toxic chemicals spilled by those who make 
methamphetamine in kitchens, sheds and hideouts.

Yet House Honorables haven't been able to bring themselves to upset 
small retailers who might lose a few dollars on the sale of 
pseudoephedrine pills (one brand name is Sudafed), which can be used 
to make meth.

It isn't as if people suffering from colds and allergies have no 
alternatives. The shelves are crowded with them. In any case, the 
anti-meth bill passed by the N.C. Senate would let stuffed-up folks 
buy limited quantities of pseudoephedrine at pharmacies if they show 
identification.

Sheriffs, district attorneys and N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper 
support the Senate bill. Retail lobbyists and some rural legislators 
- -- who apparently fail to grasp the threat this drug poses to their 
constituents -- are trying to weaken it.

As the dithering proceeds in Raleigh, The New York Times reports on 
the heartbreaking effects of meth on children in states that have let 
the drug take hold. The number of children sent to foster homes has 
increased sharply. In many cases, they never go home, because their 
parents are so messed up.

A state official in Oregon told The Times, "In every way, shape and 
form, (meth) is the worst drug ever for child welfare."

At last count, 203 meth labs had been found in North Carolina this 
year. We can only guess how many children have suffered birth 
defects, gone hungry, been ignored or been abused.

The N.C. House apparently cares more about lobbyists and campaign contributors.
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MAP posted-by: Beth