REGIMEN PROPOSED TO FIGHT METH

Education, Tougher Laws Among N.C. Attorney General's Recommendations

The illegal drug methamphetamine must be stopped before it kills children,
threatens the public and ravages its addicted users, state Attorney General
Roy Cooper said Tuesday as he announced a plan to fight it. Highly
addictive and surging in popularity, "crystal meth" is home-cooked in
kitchens and hotel rooms from cold medicine and other common ingredients.
Combating meth will take more tax money, Cooper said, but that's not as
costly as letting the drug flood the state.

"Here in North Carolina, we have a huge problem," he said. "This issue is
more serious than crack [cocaine]."

At a news conference with law officers in Raleigh, Cooper said the spread
of the addictive stimulant, also called "ice," "crank," "wash" and "speed,"
must be slowed.

In 1999, law agencies across the state found nine meth labs. Last year,
they found 177. They expect to find more in 2004.

Some labs are discovered only when their volatile chemicals catch fire or
blow up.

"In just the last four years, North Carolina has seen these labs explode,
both literally and figuratively," Cooper said. "We must combat this problem
now."

Cooper's prescription:

* Tougher state laws against making meth, selling it and exposing children
to it, with more aggressive local prosecution.

* Monitoring of bulk buyers of cold medicine by drugstores and groceries
and reporting of suspicious purchasers to police.

* Better training and equipment for police and firefighters who combat meth
labs.

* Help for social service agencies caring for children found in or near
meth labs.

* Guidelines for decontaminating homes with meth labs.

* Education of landlords, apartment managers, hotel workers and garbage
collectors on what evidence of meth production to look for and how to
report it. One sign: a bunch of discarded, punched-out pill packages.

The core ingredient in methamphetamine is ephedrine or pseudoephedrine,
decongestants commonly found in over-the-counter cold medicine.

Users buy it for as little as $10 a hit, and the high can last more than
six hours. They swallow, snort or inject it. Because meth is cheap to make,
it's highly profitable, which encourages criminals.

Cooper, a Democrat running this year for re-election, said the General
Assembly will have to spend more money to fight meth, including the cost of
more prison space for manufacturers and sellers. He had no cost estimate.

Several law officers appearing with Cooper agreed that meth is a growing
social catastrophe requiring tough new laws.

"We need a lot of help," Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said. "My jail
is full, too. But I'm not going to turn my back on it just because of
prison overcrowding."

Local law agencies usually call in the SBI, which sends teams of at least
three agents and two chemists. The cost can run thousands of dollars each time.

SBI Director Robin Pendergraft said the greatest potential cost is in the
seared lungs and torn lives of children whose parents turn homes into meth
labs.

About one-fourth of the labs discovered so far had children living in them,
she said. Of the 177 labs found last year, children lived in 69. And 37
children were present when the labs were found.

"We have found meth labs over children's bedrooms," Pendergraft said. "[The
parents] don't care about their children. The only thing they care about is
this drug. It is wicked."

And yet public awareness of the problem is low, Cooper said.

That could change in part because of more public snooping. Cooper wants
stores that sell cold medicine to report unusually large purchases of cold
medicine.

"A person who goes in and buys 10 boxes of Sudafed is not a big family with
a cold -- they're going to make methamphetamine," he said. "We want
retailers to notify law enforcement. If the person has a legitimate reason
to buy it, there should be no problem."

If voluntary measures don't work, Cooper said, the sale of ordinary cold
medicines to the public could be restricted.

Strong medicine, perhaps, for what Cooper called "the growing meth epidemic
here."