REPUBLICANS LAUNCH WAR ON METH

SPRINGFIELD - State government should commit $39 million to jump-start a
full-scale war on methamphetamine, a group of Illinois House Republicans
said Friday, admitting that the state's tight budget could make that difficult.

Said Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet: "The bottom line is we're going to have
to bite the bullet."

Rose is co-chair of the House Republican Methamphetamine Task Force. The
force's plan includes $10 million to start and maintain "drug courts,"
which would allow non-violent drug users to defer prosecution or to avoid
prison by complying with a regimen of strict supervision, court
appearances, treatment and recovery services.

Experts say meth is dangerous to everyone - and it's on the rise. According
to the task force, state police uncovered 971 meth labs in 2003, more than
double the 403 found in 2000.

Meth is easily manufactured because it involves accessible ingredients,
including cold medicine, batteries and fertilizer. But the combination
creates harmful, explosive fumes.

The Republicans' plan would:

- - Make possession of any amount of meth a Class X felony, punishable by 6
to 30 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

- - Direct General Assembly to appoint a commission to draft a model
meth-control act.

- - Increase the criminal fine to all drug offenders by $100, allocated to
local law enforcement for cleaning up meth labs, employing additional
officers for drug-related cases, etc.

- - Enable local governments to be reimbursed for meth-related costs.

Michael Weir, spokesman for House Democrats, expects Democrats to propose
their own legislation within a few weeks.

But he said the Republican plan is worth considering - and researching.

"We welcome ideas from any quarter," Weir said.

Rose said the goal of drug courts is to give addicts an alternative - a
chance to get clean under the strict supervision of the courts and social
services, he said.

Nationwide, those who go through drug courts have a 16.4 percent rate of
repeating a crime, he said. He did not know the rate for Illinois' drug
courts, which exist in various forms throughout the state.

But the state Department of Corrections' recidivism rate for traditionally
incarcerated drug offenders was 45 percent in 2002, he said.

Rose said the state spends $23,812 annually to incarcerate each drug
offender, versus $2,000 to $5,000 for those in the drug-court system.

He believes the state can save $78 million by dropping the recidivism rate
for drug offenders to 16.4 percent statewide.

The task force would like to take half that - $39 million - to battle
methamphetamine use and production, Rose said.