METH EPIDEMIC ENDANGERS CHILDREN

Perhaps the saddest aspect of the crystal methamphetamine-manufacturing
binge upon which too many Mississippians embark is the children whose
lives and health are disrupted by the drug.

Law enforcement officers on the Gulf Coast say that meth production in
homes where children live continues to be a problem, in spite of a
number of laws that assess harsh penalties on adults who do this.

As an example, lawmen raided a meth lab in a duplex and found that a
4-year-old who lived in the home tested positive for meth. But they
said the meth production process is so toxic that a 3-year-old living
in the other side of the duplex also tested positive for the drug -
just by breathing the air around his home.

The meth epidemic has prompted lawmen and social service agencies to
work more closely together to address the needs of children who live
with drugs.

In the past, authorities would remove a child from a house whose
residents were accused of making drugs and let a relative keep them.
Now, they are taking them to hospitals for health tests and placing
them in protective custody. It is a wise move.

The continued seizure of home-based meth labs speaks to the addictive
power of the drug, since there are harsh penalties for those caught
making it.

It is illegal to possess two or more of the ingredients used to make
meth. If authorities prove intent to manufacture, a suspect can go to
jail for up to 30 years.

It is also illegal to possess more than 250 doses of meth ingredients
like pseudoephedrine, which is found in many over-the-counter cold
medications, or to possess another ingredient, anhydrous ammonia,
without a license.

Violating that law brings five years, but the punishment is doubled
under another law if children 18 or younger are present where meth is
made.

To hear lawmen talk, the meth problem isn't going away, which very
probably means that people will continue to risk cooking the drug in
their own homes. If so, that will leave Mississippi with a huge number
of children whose health has been harmed and whose lives have been
uprooted by their parents' inability to resist the siren song of drugs.

The scourge of meth, along with other drugs, will continue to place a
heavy burden on Mississippi's social services, at a time when the
state can ill afford it. It is one more ingredient in the state's
difficult financial recipe.