BATTLING THE SCOURGE

Sheriff Is Right to Make Fighting Meth a Top Law-Enforcement
Priority

For more than 20 years, the curse of meth has been spreading across
the nation, state and Space Coast.

The drug, often called the "poor man's cocaine," destroys lives,
families and communities.

Its abuse is rising in Florida, and will only get worse unless all
possible weapons are used to attack it.

Fortunately for Brevardians, that's what the Brevard County Sheriff's
Office is doing.

Sheriff Jack Parker has made the battle against methamphetamine a top
priority.

Devoting substantial resources to what Parker calls the "scourge of
our generation," his office is correctly focused on finding and
shutting down meth labs and operators.

The numbers show it.

Brevard is No. 1 of the state's 67 counties in busting meth labs, far
exceeding even heavily populated South Florida counties.

The sheriff's 22 meth-lab raids through late August nearly equals the
26 of all last year and could, by year-end, exceed the 34 raids of
2005.

Meth, a powerful nervous-system stimulant, can be cooked up at home
from common ingredients including drain cleaner, brake fluid and cold
medicines.

The make-do labs -- with their dangerous chemicals, flammable solvents
and highly explosive vapors -- are hazardous not only to users, but
also to the neighborhoods where they're often set up.

The drug can trigger aggression, paranoia, irrational behavior,
dependence, psychosis, stroke, and potentially fatal heart problems.

But that's just part of its terror.

Addicts leave a trial of crimes and violence, and when they are
parents, child abuse and life-threatening neglect.

Between 2000-05, meth lab seizures by local or federal law enforcement
affected more than 15,000 children, says a survey by the Pew
Charitable Trusts.

In Brevard as nationwide, many of those children end up being taken
from their parents and put into in foster care, or must be cared for
by relatives.

As a result, meth use increases demand for medical and social services
and drug and psychiatric treatment.

Adding to costs, the arrests, trials and incarceration of those
involved increase law enforcement, court and jail expenses. The fire
hazard adds to work of fire departments, and the clean up of toxic
meth labs costs from $3,000 to $20,000.

The plague of meth is a concern for every Space Coast resident. That's
why responsible citizens should help, by reporting any suspicions
about possible labs, with their strange odors and activity, to law
enforcement.

To their credit, some local cities are wisely joining the battle,
considering how to increase their own meth-fighting resources and training.

State Attorney Norm Wolfinger is also showing toughness in assigning
meth cases to his top prosecutors, and seeking prison sentences in
more cases.

All these moves are an essential part of what must become a relentless
assault on meth.

If it doesn't happen, the tragic toll it's taking on our community
will only rise, leaving more wreckage and heartbreak.