METH LABS BECOMING A SCOURGE

Monday's news reports carried the story of a meth lab explosion in Unicoi
County, which destroyed a house and put several persons living in the
community as well as law enforcement officers at risk. Also this past
weekend, Johnson City law authorities found a large meth lab in an outlying
area and put it out of commission. Local law enforcement officers apparently
are doing a great job this year judging from the number of methamphetamine
laboratories that they have discovered and destroyed.

Three or four years ago, law enforcement officers centered their worry on
the spread of crack cocaine, a form of cocaine that is so highly addictive
that a first-time user can become hooked.

Now, and perhaps rightly so, their focus has shifted to the home-spun
laboratories that produce methamphetamine from items that can be purchased
almost anywhere. It doesn't have to be harvested and refined in South or
Central America or another nation and then smuggled into the United States.
It can be "cooked" almost anywhere, including motel rooms. Although several
of these illicit labs have been found this year, there no doubt are many
more operating in residential areas, such as the one in Unicoi County. The
meth labs are a real threat to the communities they are operating in.

If you suspect or know of a meth lab operating in your community, the most
important thing you can do is call the Sheriff's Department. Every citizen
should do his or her part to help fight this and other drug menaces in our
communities. Even an anonymous tip to police could help rid our communities
of those who would endanger the lives not only of those who use their
product, but nearby neighbors who might be injured if one of these labs
explodes, as they are prone to do.

Being a tipster isn't bad. It's something to which local officers would give
a thumbs-up.