SENATE OKS STIFFER PENALTIES FOR METH

Proposal would require manufacturers of drug to serve prison time

RALEIGH - The N.C. Senate voted to crack down on the spread of
methamphetamines Tuesday, approving a plan to require prison time for meth
manufacturers who could get by with a probationary sentence under current
law.

Under the proposal, meth manufacturers would serve at least three years and
eight months in prison. The plan lets judges impose harsher sentences if
children live or are found at the site of a meth lab. Those who are found
with meth ingredients and who are suspected of making it could face prison
time. And if anyone dies in a meth explosion, the meth manufacturer could be
charged with second degree murder.

"This bill addresses what has become the number one enemy in the war on
drugs," said Sen. Walter Dalton, D-Rutherford, whose district has been
plagued with labs.

The Senate passed the plan unanimously and plans to confirm the decision in
a procedural vote today. Sen. Virginia Foxx, R-Watauga, said she might try
to include an amendment today that would make the penalty greater if a
firefighter or law enforcement officer is injured. House members also must
agree to the plan.

The vote was celebrated by law enforcement officials and emergency
responders, including Darren South, a volunteer firefighter from Deep Gap,
just east of Boone. Fumes from a meth lab seared South's lungs last year,
taking away 45 percent of his lung capacity.

South told lawmakers last week they should do anything they can to stop meth
manufacturers.

"I want to make sure children don't have to go through with this," South
said. "Their lungs are a lot smaller than mine."

Lawmakers are stiffening the penalties under a push from Attorney General
Roy Cooper, who says meth, unlike other drugs, damages neighborhoods as
easily as it does the drug users and makers. Chemicals used in cooking meth,
such as brake fluid and ammonia, make occupants and neighbors sick, and the
labs can easily catch fire or explode.

Sheriffs and leaders of the State Bureau of Investigation complain that meth
busts tie down their officers and strap their budgets. Officers spend hours,
sometimes days, cleaning up chemicals.

And the problem is growing. North Carolina shut down 177 meth labs last year
and already has broken up 129 in 2004. The state found only 9 labs in 1999.

Cooper, a Democrat, wants about $16 million for agents as well as chemists
and new lab space to test chemicals found during busts, but he might not get
all he wants this year. Democratic Gov. Mike Easley has requested $1.2
million, mostly for hiring agents.

A pair of senators, including Sen. Fern Shubert, R-Union, questioned a
provision last week that would let state health officials make rules that
would determine when people could move back into a former meth lab. Shubert
and Sen. Hugh Webster, R-Alamance, worried that landlords, hotel owners and
others could lose their livelihoods if health officials get stuck in red
tape.

More Online

To read "Meth in the Mountains," the Observer's series on Carolinas
methamphetamine labs, go to:
www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/photos/8242554.htm