SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON FIGHTING METH

Arrests Soar As Powerful Drug, Often Made In Homes, Spreads Further In Georgia.

To wrestle a drug problem that's hitting Georgia hard, more than 200
federal, state and local officials are expected for a summit in Atlanta
this week.

The goal is to come up with state and local strategies to combat the rapid
spread of methamphetamine --- a powerful stimulant often cooked up in
dangerous homemade labs --- before it overwhelms law enforcement, the
courts, social services and drug treatment centers.

"It has been just rampant," said Becky Vaughn, president of the Georgia
Council on Substance Abuse. "We are at a point right now where we've seen a
real spike in arrests and treatment admissions. Our goal is to try to keep
that rampage from charging through Georgia."

Last year, police raided 701 meth labs in Georgia, up from 29 just four
years earlier, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. By the end
of May, the count for this year already had reached 373. The drug also is
imported into Georgia from large labs in Mexico.

Gov. Sonny Perdue and the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse are hosting
the federally funded summit Tuesday and Wednesday at the Omni Hotel. Those
invited include police, fire and emergency officials; health, drug
treatment, child protection and environmental officials; and lawmakers,
judges, prosecutors, educators, retailers and even motel operators, because
some people make meth in rented rooms. After a lineup of speakers including
Perdue, they will spend much of the two days in working groups, devising
recommendations for their communities and the state.

"Methamphetamine abuse . . . is an issue we would like to get ahold of
prior to it becoming an epidemic as it has out West," said Rebecca
Sullivan, policy adviser to Perdue. "There are a lot of people in Georgia
who are addressing this problem, but they aren't necessarily working
together, and they're not aware of what each other is doing."

Tighter controls

A hot topic among law enforcement officers is likely to be a new law in
Oklahoma credited with cutting the number of meth labs there in half. Under
that law, which took effect in April, only pharmacies may sell tablets
containing pseudoephedrine, such as Sudafed, a key ingredient of the
illegal drug. Convenience stories and other retailers had to remove the
tablets from their shelves. The pharmacies must keep the drugs behind their
counters and require customers to show photo identification and sign for
the medicine.

The number of meth labs raided in Oklahoma dropped from 100 in March to 50
in June, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

"You can't ignore that success story," said Phil Price, the GBI's special
agent in charge of drug enforcement for 37 North Georgia counties. "It's my
feeling that this is the next step in the progression to trying to get a
handle on this homemade meth issue."

Sherri Strange, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's special agent in
charge of the Atlanta Field Division, said Oklahoma's law grew out of a
meth summit in that state.

California, Washington, Hawaii, Tennessee and other states also have held
meth summits in recent years. "One of the best things" that comes out of
them, Strange said, is eventual legislation that fills in gaps in the
struggle to stop the manufacture of the drug.

Tougher punishments

In 2003, Perdue signed into law tougher punishments for people who make and
sell meth. It's a felony in Georgia to possess more than 300
over-the-counter cold pills needed to make the drug. It's also a felony to
possess any amount of anhydrous ammonia, a common fertilizer, with the
intent of making meth.

This past spring, the governor signed a law allowing prosecutors to hold
parents and caregivers criminally accountable for reckless child
endangerment in meth-related cases. The law creates a separate felony for
making meth in the presence of a child.

Janet Oliva, director of the state's Division of Family and Children
Services, said she'll use the summit to spread the word about dangers to
children who live in homes where meth is made.

"There's an immediate risk to everyone in that home, specifically to our
children, of fire and explosion," she said. Children also can suffer
long-term health problems from exposure to a meth lab's chemicals and
fumes. "We do know there can be damage to the liver, to the kidneys, to the
spleen."

Vaughn, the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse president, said the summit
also will focus on treatment and prevention. "The more people understand
the harm factors in drugs, the less likely they are to use them," she said.