GIVENS ON ENVIRONMENT: 'METH IS DEATH'

KINGSPORT - Index card number four on Tennessee Agricultural Commissioner
Ken Givens' list of topics to talk about Friday at an East Tennessee
Environmental Conference was about a crime with environmental implications.

The headline text at the top of the card said "Meth Problem."

Givens told conference attendees during his luncheon keynote speech at the
Eastman Lodge that methamphetamine manufacturing is having an adverse
effect on the environment.

"It impacts everybody here," Givens said of meth lab start-ups. "Meth
creates environmental problems. When you make one pound of meth, you make
several pounds of toxic waste that will end up in the environment
somewhere. .. It may end up in carpet. It may end up in drywall."

In April 2004, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen named Givens to chair the
Governor's Task Force on Methamphetamine Abuse to develop a comprehensive
strategy for addressing the manufacture, trafficking and abuse of the drug.

In all, the task force delivered more than 30 recommendations falling under
seven fundamental "cornerstones" for an effective strategy to attack meth
abuse. The cornerstones included:

.Increasing funding for methamphetamine treatment with an eye toward
long-term initiatives.

.Educating communities about the dangers of methamphetamine abuse.

.Creating new penalties and strengthening existing penalties for
methamphetamine-related crimes.

.Committing resources to help children harmed by methamphetamine
manufacturing and abuse.

.Limiting the availability of precursor materials used to illegally
manufacture methamphetamine. Legislation has been introduced to put
products like Sudafed behind pharmacists' counters.

.Addressing contamination caused by clandestine methamphetamine laboratories.

"Meth is a real bad thing. Meth is death," Givens said. "We kept hearing
the same things over and over again to get ahold of the meth problem. ...
We're going to say that if you produce it, it's going to be assumed that
you're distributing it. We're going to put more people in jail. We know
that putting people in jail is not all the answer. . We also will keep a
registry of (meth lab) contaminated properties with TDEC (Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation)."

But Givens noted that getting a strong hold on Tennessee's meth problem -
and just about every other state program - is contingent upon controlling
the growth of TennCare, the state's troubled $8 billion-plus expanded
Medicaid health care program for 1.3 million Tennesseans. Reforms in
TennCare - including the possibility that more than 300,000 adult enrollees
will be cut from the program - are currently tied up in federal court.

"You can't really talk about anything in state government anymore without
mentioning a word that I get a little bit tired of talking about, but you
have to talk about it, and that's the TennCare word," Givens said. "We have
to get our state budget under control before we can do anything - whether
it be education, economic development, protecting our environment or
anything else. ... There is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone on
TennCare. I guarantee you there are people here today who have relatives
who are on TennCare."

Givens predicted that TennCare's "Mercedes or Lexus type benefit package"
will be scaled back one way or another.

"Whatever happens, it's not going to be good," he said. "It is not good
when 300,000 some people lose their coverage. I know people today whose
lives have been saved (by TennCare). I know folks who pay $2,000 a month
for TennCare coverage."

Givens also informed conference attendees that tobacco growing in Tennessee
continues to die.

"It's on life support," Givens said of the state's tobacco production.
"That will impact every community throughout East and Middle Tennessee.
Tobacco farm sales have gone from about $305 million in 1982. ... We'll be
lucky to hit $100 million this year."

For more about Givens and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture go to
www.state.tn.us/agriculture.