SHERIFF SAYS ONLY WAY TO FIGHT METH IS FROM THE GROUND UP

Pleasant Hill Mayor Ginny Nixon, right, speaks about the need for a
state law limiting the sale of products containing pseudoephedrine.
Because her community is small and has no law enforcement of its own,
the town council cannot pass an ordinance similar to the one in Crossville.

By Heather Mullinix Chronicle assistant editor Working from the
community level up, and making pseudoephedrine products available by
prescription are the best ways to fight the spread of methamphetamine,
local law enforcement and business leaders told the Governor's Task
Force on Methamphetamine Thursday.

Sheriff Butch Burgess said the only way to fight the problem was from
the ground up. "Meth is so different from everything else, it's hard
to bring in the DEA or TBI. It has to be solved from the community
level."

Burgess said he and his officers had conducted more than 400 meth
awareness programs and have trained more than 1,500 daycare workers.

"And it's based on what we know, what we've learned from California,"
Burgess said. "A lot of this stuff can be done on a community level
without having to ask the state for any more dollars."

The Task Force identified several recommendations for an effective
strategy to fight methamphetamine, including increasing funding for
treatment and long-term initiatives; educating communities about the
dangers of methamphetamine abuse; creating new penalties and
strenghtening existing penalties for methamphetamine-related crimes;
commiting resources to help children harmed by methamphetamine
manufacturing and abuse; limiting the availabliltiy of precursor
materials used to illegally manufacture methamphetamine; addressing
contamination caused by cladestine methamphetamine laboratories; and
improving coordination between federal, state and local
stakeholders.

Ken Givens, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture
and chair of the task force, said Oklahoma has had great success with
limiting the availability of products containing pseudoephedrine with
a state-wide law similar to the ordinance passed by the Crossville
City Council last year. Representative Charles Curtiss said Oklahoma
had seen a 60 percent decrease in meth lab seizures after restricting
the sale of over-the-counter drugs containing pseudoephedrine.

Crossville Police Chief David Beaty said, "The local ordinance has
really helped us."

The ordinance restricts access to pseudoephedrine containing products
either behind the counter or close to the counter to discourage
shoplifting. Sales are limited to 100 tablets or 3 grams. To purchase
the products, customers must present a photo ID and sign for the
purchase. A log is kept in each store and is checked periodically by
city officers.

"We've probably run our problem into the county," Beaty
said.

Pleasant Hill Mayor Ginny Nixon said her community was small, poor and
extrememly rural. Since it had no law enforcement of its own, it could
not pass an ordinance like Crossville's, and that was why she would
like to see a state-wide law regulating the sale of the products.

State Senator Charlotte Burks said she had taken a bill to committee
that was almost identical to the ordinance, but was unable to pass it.
Because many areas in Tennessee aren't seeing as much damage from
methamphetamine, she said, they weren't as willing to help pass
legislation to fight it.

Jason McClanahan, pharmacy manager at the Crossville K-mart, said
while the city's ordinance was a good start, it did have holes in it.
For instance, someone, or a group of people, could go to several
stores and buy the maximum amount, 100 tablets, each. They would then
be able to make meth.

"I would recommend single-source sudafed either be eliminated or made
prescription-only," McClanahan said.

By making it prescription-only, McClanahan said, every time a person
bought a prescription, it would be entered into a computer system,
and, similar to OxyContin or Hydrocodone, they would be able to buy a
limited amount each month, regardless of how many pharmacies they used.

Burks said this had been considered, but the cost to TennCare was
estimated as being much too high because of the cost of doctor's
visits associated with getting a prescription.

"Everyone here is serious about this problem," McClanahan said. "And
if you're serious about it, you have to get Sudafed off the street.
And you do that by making it prescription."

McClanahan said drugs such as Oxycontin and Hydrocodone were
prescription because of the potential for harm to the public. "I don't
have a drug in my pharmacy right now that has more potential for harm
than Sudafed."

Lamarr Green, manager of Crossville Food City, said a buyer for the
store brand of psuedoephedrine had told him drug companies were
working to make the active ingredient more difficult to separate from
the drugs, making it unusable in manufacturing methamphetamine.

Treatment and rehabilitation of addicts is also essential, but
traditional treatment programs aren't effective with methamphetamine
addicts, Judge Lillie Ann Sells told the group.

The Task Force has identified one or two programs already in existence
that have had some success treating this addiction, and those would be
the ones they would want to support financially to begin. It is
estimated it takes at least one year of incarceration and treatment to
rehabilitation a meth addict.

Closing the personal use loop-hole is also vital, Givens said. There
is a suggestion by the task force to change the law so that someone
caught manufacuturing meth would be charged with possession with
intent to distribute, instead of possession for personal use, making
it a stronger crime.

Children from meth homes are a great concern to Burgess, who is also a
foster parent.

"You've got this person getting rehab for two years, but where's that
child at?" Burgess said. "You've got to give those children some stability."

Burgess mentioned the House of Hope, which is a drug-endangered child
program for children removed from meth homes. "We've developed it by
the grace of God and the generosity of the people in Cumberland County."

Burgess said the fight against meth must focus on breaking the cycle
of drug abuse with the children.

"I've seen it first hand in my home," Burgess said. "It doesn't take a
fancy program, it takes a safe environment for these children, but we
can't string them along for two years while their parents are trying
to get rehab."

Burgess said while he supported a person getting rehabilitation, he
felt it needed to be done in a timely manner.

"The old ways of doing things aren't working, and [the state] is
looking for new things and we are too," Burgess said. "But the
children are our key to success."