TBI DIRECTOR ENDORSES PSEUDOEPHEDRINE LIMITS

Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Director Mark Gwyn said he feels this is
a critical time for public safety in the state. There are so many tentacles
that extend from the scourge of methamphetamine.

Gwyn made the statement Tuesday afternoon during a visit with the staff of
the Cleveland Daily Banner. The TBI director is conducting an awareness
campaign to draw support for proposed legislation in the Tennessee General
Assembly. If adopted, the new law would restrict over-the-counter sales of
cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine. The restrictions would not apply
to liquids and gel caps.

"As far as law enforcement, we're down to the point where we believe the
thing that will help us the most is the legislation the governor is
proposing," he said. "The bottom line is, you can't make this drug without
pseudoephedrine, and we must limit its availability. The governor's
proposed legislation is kind of our light at the end of the tunnel.

"We're drowning in this problem. We must do something, and we must do
something now."

Gwyn said since 2000, there has been almost a 400 percent increase in meth
labs. There have been 700 children placed in foster homes, contamination of
private and commercial property, and crime.

"Law enforcement is having to deal with a drug like it has never dealt with
before," Gwyn said. "We've never dealt with a drug this addictive that
would cause the meekest, mildest individual to turn into a murderer."

Gwyn said he worked one of the first meth-related murders in the state in
1994. A man tortured two men with a knife over a period of several days. He
tied them to a chair, cut on them, bandaged them up and let them go to
sleep. He woke them up and began cutting on them again, from head to toe.
He finally killed the two men and threw them in a lake in DeKalb County.

"I know personally what this drug can do. I know how severe the problem
is," Gwyn said. "About a year before that, the murderer was a reserve
deputy sheriff. He was one of the nicest guys you ever met."

He said methamphetamine is not just a law enforcement problem, it's a
community problem.

"If we don't get our arms around it, it's going to destroy the entire
state," he said.

Meth began as a rural problem, but it is now becoming a city problem.

"I was in Memphis a couple of weeks ag, and they found two labs in motels
in Memphis," he said. "It's starting to move into our urban areas, so it's
no longer going to be just a rural problem."

Gwyn said the proposed legislation is based on a law passed by the state of
Oklahoma, which balances public safety and public convenience. Within weeks
after the law in that state was passed, the number of labs was reduced by
70 to 80 percent.

Under Oklahoma law, the name of anyone who purchases pseudoephedrine is
placed into a central database maintained by the Oklahoma Bureau of
Investigation. That prevents people from purchasing small amounts at
various stores.

"At the end of the day, the good law-abiding citizens will be able to get
cold remedies. We just can't continue to allow people to go in and buy
hundreds of boxes of pseudoephedrine to make meth," he said.

Gwyn said the methamphetamine is becoming a problem that will be addressed
on the federal level, but Tennessee cannot wait on national or neighboring
state governments to act.

The problem must be attacked on several different fronts, including
incarceration, rehabilitation, legislation and education.

"I think we must look at pilot drug courts," he said. "We've got to get the
word out to our young people that this is not a drug you can experiment
with. One time and you're hooked; and once you're hooked, it's over with.
There's no guarantee you can ever come off this drug.

"Statistics show there is a greater chance you will not come off this drug.
The only thing left is death and destruction."

He said the only form of rehabilitation that works so far is long-term
faith-based.

"This is such a new drug that we don't know (what works). We're not into
this drug long enough to know what's going to be effective," he said. "Just
locking somebody up is not going to solve the problem."

This is the biggest problem facing law enforcement.