METH THE NO. 1 THREAT

The drug scourge in East Tennessee for the current decade is going to be
methamphetamine, the poor man's cocaine.

State and federal authorities have labeled meth as the No. 1 drug threat in
rural America, but it is spreading from the countryside to urban areas.

Recent articles by Bill Poovey of The Associated Press showed the deadly
hold methamphetamine has on those who try to make it using a combination of
over-the-counter drugs and household cleaning products. The stories also
illustrated the tragic effects on children of users and manufacturers of
the illegal drug.

Methamphetamine's popularity no doubt is due to the ease with which it is
possible to make the drug, but that is a deceptive notion that can have a
lethal effect.

The drug can be produced from readily bought items. Usually snorted or
injected, it can make the user feel euphoric, energized and powerful.
Addicts might be able to go days without sleep but pay a price with
aggressiveness and paranoia.

Tennessee's lawmakers refused to pass statutes restricting the sale of some
over-the-counter medicines used to make methamphetamine, even though the
state's retailers said they had agreed to a statewide limit.

The proposed law was weak - misdemeanor penalties for selling in one
transaction more than three packages of one or more of the medicines or
more than three grams - and apparently would not prevent a potential user
from going from store to store to buy what was needed.

Methamphetamine now is part of the drug war.

The battleground is our backyards and neighborhoods, and the effects of the
drug on children should steel our courage for the fight.