DAS SUPPORT BILL THAT WOULD MAKE IT A FELONY TO HAVE CHILDREN PRESENT
IN DRUG HOUSE

District attorneys in Talladega and St. Clair counties are keeping
their eyes on a bill making its way though the Legislature this
session that would make it a felony to have children present in a
drug house. Last week the Endangered Children Protection Bill passed
through the House of Representatives and will now go before the
Senate. If the Senate approves the bill without making changes, it
will go on to Gov. Bob Riley for final approval.

The bill was brought to the Legislature as part of Attorney General
Troy King's crime package.

King said the bill makes it a class C felony to have children present
in a drug house, a class B felony if the child is injured as a result
of being in the drug house and a class A felony if a child is killed
as a result of being in the drug house.

"These are children who are trapped by their parents or guardians,"
King said. "They are crying out for help and no one can hear their cries.

"They are being held hostage," he said. "They are being hurt and
abused by the people who are supposed to be these children's greatest
defenders. When that happens there ought to be stiff, serious
punishments for those parents and guardians."

A similar bill was presented to the Legislature last year by King,
which passed through the House but failed to make it through the
Senate after a filibuster over the state budget halted the session.
Last year's bill made it a felony only if children were present in a
house manufacturing crystal methamphetamine, but King said the latest
version encompasses all drug houses.

"I wish the bill would have gone through last year," King said. "But,
I think it's a stronger, more comprehensive law this time around.

"Are children in a crack house any less in danger than children in a
meth house," he said. "I don't believe so. I think it's important we
look at every child who is exposed to the dangers of drugs."

District attorneys in Talladega and St. Clair counties said they
support the bill, especially with the increasing problems associated
with crystal methamphetamine.

"I think this bill is a great thing," Talladega County District
Attorney Steve Giddens said. "It breaks your heart as a prosecutor to
see a child harmed, whether it's drugs or physical abuse."

Not every crystal meth lab has children present, but Giddens said it
is dangerous every time children are exposed to those environments.

"It's not something our officers see every time they go into a meth
house but we do see it," he said. "It's one thing for someone to
expose themselves to that stuff, but exposing a child who doesn't
have a choice is something very different. It's terrible."

Giddens said the process used to manufacture a drug like crystal
meth, produces highly toxic byproducts that are harmful to be around.

"When our officers go to a place where meth is being manufactured
they have to call in HAZMAT teams," he said. "HAZMAT has to send
someone in, in a special suit to deal with the fumes and chemicals as
safely as possible.

"Breathing those fumes can burn your lungs and they can kill you," he
said. "These people making the drug may have a baby lying in a crib
in that same environment."

St. Clair County District Attorney Richard Minor said if the bill is
passed it would give prosecutors another tool to combat crime.

Under current state laws, people who are caught manufacturing drugs
in the same home as children can be charged with child abuse by
willfully neglecting the child, but child abuse is not always an
appropriate charge because of the wording in the law, Minor said.

"It doesn't always fit," Minor said. "Making this a felony offense
will add an additional charge to those individuals who would have
children in those environments.

"It will allow us the opportunity to protect children and charge
those individuals who could harm children where as before there may
not have been a criminal charge for having the children present," he said.

Minor said the number local crystal methamphetamine manufacturing
cases in St. Clair County have dropped after a law was passed last
year by the Legislature requiring drug stores to keep pseudo
ephedrine, an over-the-counter decongestant and the primary
ingredient in crystal meth, behind the counter. However, Minor said
it is still a serious problem whenever children are exposed to
dangerous environments caused by drugs.

"It's a problem any time a child is in a house where someone is
manufacturing methamphetamine," he said. "Not only are the fumes
dangerous to breathe, it's not safe to be around the manufacturing
process at all.

"If someone decides to light a cigarette the whole place will blow
up," Minor said. "The chemicals used and the byproducts are extremely
unstable."

King said while he is hopeful the new law will be approved and make a
difference in the war on drugs, the need for the legislation is sad.

"It's disturbing there is a need for this and there are parents who
would do this to their children," King said. "However, the positive
side is finally the children of Alabama are not crying out in vain.
Something is being done about it. It's good we're finally putting
tough laws in place that hear their cries and answer them."