Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jul 2005
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Note: Source rarely prints LTEs received from outside its circulation area
Author: Mary M. Shaffrey
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?143 (Hepatitis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mark+Souder
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

LAW OFFICIALS FROM N.C. TELL METH STORIES TO CONGRESS

Watauga Sheriff Among Those Sounding Alarm

WASHINGTON  North Carolina law enforcement took center stage yesterday in 
the national battle against methamphetamine use.

Sheriff Mark Shook of Watauga County and Chief Deputy Phil Byers of 
Rutherford County joined other law-enforcement officials from around the 
country before a key House subcommittee to discuss what many referred to as 
the "scourge" of their communities - methamphetamine use.

"It's a community problem, its not a law-enforcement problem because 
everyone in the community has to deal with it," Shook said.

Byers agreed.

"Methamphetamine addicts and 'cooks' are driving some of Rutherford 
County's most costly social problems, including domestic violence, child 
abuse, mental illness, homelessness, and the spread of hepatitis and AIDS," 
he said.

Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that deceives people 
into thinking that they have limitless stamina while it drains the body of 
energy. The euphoria gives way to depression, brain damage and other problems.

It is made using a chemical process to convert pseudo-ephedrine, which is 
found in over-the-counter medications. Recipes can be found on the 
Internet. Law-enforcement officers like to joke that any idiot can make 
methamphetamine, but most people learn the four-hour "cook" process from 
someone who already knows how.

The House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources 
invited officials from across the country to talk about methamphetamine use 
because the members say they are not getting enough information from the 
federal government on how the illicit drug can be stopped and how it is 
affecting their communities.

"Methamphetamine use has become the scourge of the area I care so much 
about," said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, a member of the committee.

In addition to the local law-enforcement officials, federal officials from 
the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Agency 
testified. They acknowledged a problem, but their answers and solutions did 
not satisfy lawmakers.

"This is not a new drug that just burst out on the scene," said Rep. Mark 
Souder, R-Ind., the subcommittee chairman. "We see no national coordinated 
methamphetamine strategy."

The one thing that was clear from the testimony yesterday is that children 
are often those who are most hurt by the drug, even if they aren't using it.

Legislators listened attentively as one official after the other told 
heartbreaking stories of children who have been abused and neglected 
because their parents were using the drug. Some talked of children 
"Dumpster diving" for food because their parents were preoccupied with the 
drug use.

An official from Tennessee spoke of a 17-year-old who had to live at home 
with his methamphetamine-abusing parents after he had a liver transplant.

Shook talked about Breanna and James Chambers, who were kidnapped at 
gunpoint in January by their biological parents from foster care. Their 
parents, James Canter and Alisha Ann Chambers, lost custody when they were 
charged with operating a methamphetamine lab in Watauga County.

"Four days, an Amber Alert, and one car chase later, we recovered the 
children, thankfully unharmed," he said.

In 2004, 124 children in North Carolina were removed from homes where 
methamphetamine was in use, Byers said.

The drug problem, which began in California and has slowly moved east over 
the past 20 years, is typically most common in rural regions among 
lower-income people, officials said.

"Rural America needs help," said Don Owens, the police chief of Titusville 
in western Pennsylvania.

"It needs someone to listen to us, to help."
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