BILL WOULD GIVE LONGER TERMS TO METH LAB COOKS

N.C. Senate Adds On 5 Years If Police Or Firefighters Are Injured

In a last-minute vote Tuesday, N.C. senators unanimously approved
longer prison sentences for methamphetamine manufacturers whose labs
injure law enforcement officers or firefighters.

The legislation adds five years to felony prison sentences for people
convicted of making meth -- and endangering others during the highly
toxic and potentially explosive cooking process.

Tuesday's vote amends a bill senators approved last month requiring
prison time for meth manufacturers and allowing prosecutors to charge
a meth cook with second-degree murder if anyone dies in a meth
explosion. The current law allows meth manufacturers probationary sentences.

"A lot of time laws are written to try to prevent people from doing
something wrong, when we should be punishing people more strongly when
they do something wrong," said Republican Sen. Virginia Foxx, whose
district includes Watauga County, one of the most meth-plagued in the
state.

Senators rushed the amendment through Tuesday to get it on the books
as the session winds to an end.

The House will now take up its version of the bill, which calls for
similar penalties.

Until 2000, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation busted fewer than
10 meth labs per year. Last year, authorities found 177.

To stop the drug's spread, Attorney General Roy Cooper proposed
spending more than $14 million to hire more agents and chemists, train
law enforcement officers and launch a public awareness campaign.

But the N.C. Senate budget includes only $1.1 million for hiring eight
agents and six chemists and expanding the western crime laboratory.
The House budget allocates just $700,000 for the same projects.

Cooper said in an interview Tuesday it's critical for state House
members to approve tougher penalties for meth manufacturing.

But the attorney general seemed to accept that he wouldn't get the
money he was requesting.

"We need to go further, but this is a good first step," Cooper said.
"Success in the legislature often comes in increments."