BACKERS CALL METH REGISTRIES A SAFETY MEASURE

Police in Illinois have found toxic methamphetamine labs in suburban homes,
under bridges, in cornfields and in the trunk of a car that ran a red light
and hit a police cruiser.

"It's everywhere," says Master Sgt. Rick Hector of the Illinois State
Police. "And it's dangerous."

In January, Illinois will become the fourth state to offer a searchable
Internet database of convicted meth manufacturers, dealers and traffickers
as part of an effort to crack down on meth labs, which have polluted
communities across the state. Hector and other officials say the database
will allow landlords, real estate agents and neighborhood residents to
check for meth offenders.

The presumption behind such databases, which are similar to the
sex-offender registries present in every state, is that meth offenders
might return to crime after they're released from prison. Studies have long
shown that convicts who have a history of substance abuse are more likely
to be rearrested than those who don't.

The meth registries haven't been challenged in court, but the American
Civil Liberties Union and other critics counter that the databases can
unfairly -- and unconstitutionally -- malign those who already have been
punished for their crimes.

Supporters of meth registries cite a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2003
that upheld state registries for sex offenders, but the ACLU says the court
was endorsing a narrow exception to laws that ban double jeopardy for
convicts because of the particular danger sexual predators can pose to
communities. The ACLU says the ruling should not apply to meth offenders,
and that such Internet registries could set a precedent that compromises
the rights of a range of offenders.

"If you start down the road of registering people who have already served
their time, where does it stop?" asks Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU's
Drug Litigation Project. "Why not do it for all drug offenders, for drunk
drivers? What are the other types of activities neighbors want to know about?"

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discriminating
against someone for past addictions, Boyd adds.

Bill Jaquette of the Snohomish County Public Defenders Association in
Everett, Wash., testified against a proposed registry before the
Legislature in Washington, which is among six states considering such
public databases.

"It's one more onerous thing to put on people who have been convicted and
served their time," he says.

Illinois officials say the meth registry -- along with stiff penalties for
meth manufacturers and restrictions on the sale of pseudoephedrine and
other over-the-counter drugs used to make meth -- will make communities
safer. After "cooking" chemicals to produce meth, the operators of
clandestine labs often leave behind toxic waste that can be costly to clean up.

Meth labs surfaced in Illinois in 1997, when authorities shut down 24. By
2004, the number of seized labs surpassed 1,000. Last year, 973 were shut down.

"Meth was and is a big problem here," says Illinois state Sen. William
Haine, who sponsored the registry legislation.

Tennessee's meth registry lists about 400 offenders. "The property damage
from meth cooks is horrible," says Jennifer Johnson of the Tennessee Bureau
of Investigation. "If they get the ingredients wrong, it explodes in a big
toxic mess. You want to know who these people are because you wouldn't want
to be near it."