MEETING THE METH THREAT

The illegal drug methamphetamine is more addictive than crack, some
authorities say. Users of the stimulant burn out their bodies and brains
almost as fast as their families' incomes. Meth is cheap to concoct, and
its addictiveness makes it a money-maker. The labs, however, are explosive,
and inhaling byproducts of the manufacturing process is harmful. Law
enforcement officials have been injured during investigations. Meth labs
are sprouting all over the country; in North Carolina the problem is
widespread, but mountainous Watauga County seems to be a center of
activity, with 26 of 101 labs discovered in the state so far this year.

Watauga Sheriff Mark Shook saw a young volunteer firefighter badly hurt in
January while trying to save a burning mobile home that also was a meth
lab. Shook has no problem charging meth makers under a state law enacted
after 9/11 to prosecute attackers using chemical weapons. Magistrates can
set high bonds under the anti-terror law, and violators can be sentenced to
life in prison.

The state law against making meth is lax in comparison. Bonds typically are
a few thousand dollars, so the guilty can be back at their cauldrons hours
after an arrest. A first offender, regardless of the size of his operation,
can receive a suspended sentence and probation. The stiffest sentence for
even repeat offenders is 30 months in prison.

Lawmakers should stiffen the penalties against meth trafficking. While the
sheriff's frustration is understandable, using a terrorism law to prosecute
drug manufacturers is a stretch that risks undermining that law's
effectiveness. The legislature properly has restrained the impulse to
toughen drug laws capriciously. But laws against methamphetamine
manufacture and sale need to match the harm done by the drug to users, law
enforcement officials and government budgets.