N.C.'S GROWING METHAMPHETAMINE HEADACHE REQUIRES A UNIFIED PLAN OF ATTACK
FROM EASLEY AND COOPER

Gov. Mike Easley and N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper stand on opposite
sides of a gulf in the state's initiative to fight the spread of
methamphetamine labs. Cooper is asking for $16 million and more than 40 new
chemists and law enforcement agents.

The governor thinks about one-tenth of the money and one-third of the
personnel would be adequate to the task at hand.

We can't say at this time who has the right approach. We can say the
governor and attorney general need to quickly decide on a unified approach,
because the meth plague is spreading at an exponential rate. In 2000 only
nine meth labs were investigated in North Carolina. Last year the number in
WNC alone was about 90.

A Schedule II stimulant, meth is bad news from its production (making a
pound of meth leaves behind six pounds of toxic byproducts) to its
consumption (it's dangerously and immediately addictive). Given the
explosion of meth labs in WNC, we do side with Cooper's proposal for $3
million to expand a crime lab here and retain and recruit officers. That
money can't be found in Easley's budget.

Easley spokeswoman Cari Boyce told The Associated Press, "To say we don't
support it wouldn't be correct. With the (budget) availability we had, we
put all the money into the positions.''

Money doesn't grow on trees, and there are myriad spending needs the state
has put off in recent lean budget years. That doesn't mean Easley and
Cooper shouldn't try to find the middle ground, and as quickly as possible,
on the best approach against meth labs.

It's a crisis that has arrived in Western North Carolina. And it's time to
get to work in solving it