FIGHTING METH MUST BE PRIORITY IN TENNESSEE

None of it is a surprise.

Not the growing numbers of people who make and abuse methamphetamine,
not the need for multiple solutions, not the fact that there are no
magic bullets.

Officials call it an epidemic. Methamphetamine affects the central
nervous system, and it's made with over-the-counter ingredients that
are easy to obtain. Its users have no remorse for the crimes they
commit to obtain the drug.

The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration has reported that 1,253
meth labs were cleaned up in Tennessee last year, the most in any
state for the third year in a row. The FDA estimates that
three-quarters of the meth labs in the Southeast are in Tennessee.

What is not a surprise is that Tennessee officials must take the issue
seriously, and a meth task force recently presented recommendations
for dealing with the scourge to Gov. Phil Bredesen. It's also at or
near the top of the priority list for Mark Gwyn, the new director of
the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Gwyn is a member of the governor's task force, and recommendations
include longer jail sentences for meth abusers, limiting the
availability of products used to make the drug and expanded treatment
for addicts. Bredesen is expected to push for legislation to enact the
recommendations when the Legislature reconvenes next year.

"It's not something you can just say, 'OK, if we put 100 more officers
on the street, we can solve this problem,' " Gwyn said. "Meth is not
like that. To really get hold of it, we're going to have to attack it
not only from a law enforcement perspective but from a legislative
perspective, just all the way around."

We're glad the process has begun - that Bredesen has taken the issue
seriously enough to create a task force and that the task force has
done its work with due deliberation. The next step is up to the
legislators, but there will be more work after that.

"The nature of the drug the tentacles that spread out from meth are
unlike any other drug in the way it affects not just the user but the
people around the user," Gwyn said.

And he acknowledges it's difficult to know what will work until some
of the task force's recommendations are tried.

"It's so widespread now that there's no way from a law enforcement
perspective that I think we can get our arms around it," Gwyn said.
"No matter what, it's going to take other help."

And that's not a surprise, either.