WE CAN'T AFFORD TO BACKSLIDE ON METH ERADICATION

NASHVILLE -- Tennessee has taken major strides in eradicating the
statewide methamphetamine scourge. State lawmakers enthusiastically
endorsed Gov. Phil Bredesen's "Meth Free Tennessee" bill. It passed
unanimously in the House and Senate with nary a negative peep and is
now the law of the land.

Under the comprehensive legislation, cold medicines containing
ephedrine or pseudoephedrine -- a necessary ingredient in the meth
recipe -- will now be sold behind the counter in licensed pharmacies.
Quantities will be limited, and buyers will have to sign a log when
they purchase such meds.

After passing a similar law, Oklahoma saw the number of meth lab busts
drop by about 75 percent. Currently, Tennessee ranks third in the
nation in the number of meth labs discovered annually by law
enforcement. Such a reduction would be huge, especially as the problem
creeps into the state's urban areas.

The new state law also closes the so-called personal use loophole. It
allowed meth cooks to get lighter sentences by claiming they were
making the drug for personal use and not for widespread
distribution.

These are all good policies and should help curb the spread of the
highly-addictive and toxic drug in Tennessee. =09

Meth has long been regarded as a "biker drug" on the west coast. In
recent years, it has migrated east, leaving broken homes and toxic
waste in its wake.

The highly-addictive stimulant is produced in clandestine laboratories
from readily available household ingredients. The ingredients are not
only common but also are combustible when combined to make meth.

Dr. Jeff Guy is the director of the Vanderbilt University Medical
Center Burn Unit, one of the largest burn treatment facilities in the
country. Guy estimates that between one-third and one-fourth of the
unit's 20 beds are typically occupied by meth lab burn victims on an
average day.

Specialized burn treatment costs about $10,000 a day and requires a
lengthy hospital stay. Guy says burn unit doctors consider themselves
lucky if their patients have TennCare, which pays pennies on the
dollar for such care. More often than not, they don't have any health
insurance. By law, hospitals can't turn them away, and are forced to
absorb millions of dollars in charity care. This is passed along to
patients with private insurance in terms of higher premiums and more
expensive costs.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are doing their best
to eradicate the drug. Tennessee's new meth law requires hospitals
like Vanderbilt to report burn injuries to local authorities. It's
hoped this will lead police officers to meth labs so they can be shut
down.

Unfortunately, drug enforcement costs money. Given Tennessee's tight
budget constraints and the widening federal deficit, this is a problem.

President Bush's proposed budget zeros out Edward Byrne Justice
Assistance Grant money. These funds are used to pay for Tennessee's 26
judicial district drug task forces. They come under the purview of the
local district attorney generals' offices and are instrumental in
investigating and prosecuting drug crimes in the state.

Federal funds for these programs have been gradually reduced since
2003. Eliminating them entirely will cause major setbacks for
communities battling the meth problem, especially rural communities
that don't have large tax bases to absorb the loss of federal dollars.

When asked specifically about the grant cuts, Joseph Keefe, deputy
director of the Office on National Drug Control Policy, offered a
stock bureaucratic answer.

"The president's 2006 budget is obviously a very difficult budget.
There are a lot of things going on in this world. The debt of the U.S.
government is higher than all states combined. We have a war, we have
a deficit, and that's the proposed budget by the Bush Administration
for 2006," Keefe said.

Yes, the United States is engaged in a war in the Middle East. At the
same time, policymakers can't afford to turn their backs on the war on
drugs, which is currently being waged on American soil. Tennessee has
made tremendous strides in the war on meth.

Now isn't the time to go backwards by cutting federal drug enforcement
funding.

Mary Perren is the Tennessee Correspondent for Metro Source, a
division of Westwood One Communications.