TIME TO NIP METH PROBLEM IN THE BUD

People who make and use methamphetamine threaten our relatively safe
communities; it's time to fight back.

Investigators say those who recently broke into a south side Eau Claire
home, robbed and traumatized the family were meth addicts desperate for
money to fuel their addiction.

The incident is a high-profile example of a troubling trend. Meth arrests
in Eau Claire jumped from 11 in 2003 to 47 last year.

In a comprehensive look at the burgeoning meth problem in the area
published last August, the Leader-Telegram reported the number of meth labs
seized in Wisconsin has soared from eight in 1999 to 112 in 2003.

Unfortunately for us, most of those discoveries were in this part of the
state, specifically from Eau Claire west to the state line.

Another sign of the growing scope of the problem can be found in the number
of people being treated for addiction to meth. The L.E. Phillips Libertas
Center drug treatment facility in Chippewa Falls reports admitting 169
people for meth detoxification in 2004, up 70 percent from five years
earlier. That averages one addict nearly every other day.

Making matters worse is the roughly 40 days it takes meth users to rid
their bodies of the poison they've ingested. These goodies include
kerosene, lye, ephedrine from cold tablets, lithium from batteries and red
phosphorous from the striker plates of matchbooks. Not exactly stuff you'll
find on Food Network.

Eau Claire Police Chief Jerry Matysik is trying to avoid unduly frightening
people, but at the same time he is one of the leading voices for the need
to get on top of this problem before it overwhelms us.

He has several common-sense suggestions our lawmakers in Madison should
study and follow up on as soon as possible. He wants cold medicines and
other products with ephedrine taken off publicly accessible shelves in
stores so purchases can be monitored. He also called for legislation
requiring anhydrous ammonia, a common farm fertilizer, to contain an
additive making it ineffective for cooking meth.

Matysik also would like to see locks put on all anhydrous ammonia tanks and
more aggressive termination of parental rights of meth addicts to protect
their children.

Finally, he favors tougher sentences for meth makers and users to show we
mean business.

We don't need to go into panic mode over this, but Matysik is right;
lawmakers should take notice of the growing problem and take action.

Our No. 1 asset is the relative safety we feel in our communities. We are
fairly confident our children can play down at the park or schoolyard
without fear some whacked-out meth addict will wander by.

If we don't keep this problem from mushrooming, we put everything we have
at risk - the quality of our communities, our schools and staggering costs
for law enforcement, courts, prisons and human services, to say nothing of
the human cost in ruined lives and shattered families.

This stuff is nasty. Let's all work to put a stop to it, starting with
Matysik's call for legislation to stem the supply of ingredients.