REPORT ADVISES TOUGHER STANCE AGAINST METH

Expanded SBI Presence Suggested

Brunswick County, N.C. -- A state report released Wednesday recommends
toughening North Carolina's methamphetamine laws and providing more
resources to law enforcement, prosecutors and social service centers in an
effort to stop one of the state's fastest-growing drug problems.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper released his final report to state
legislators and made several recommendations after hosting the state's
first methamphetamine conference in the fall.

In the past four years, methamphetamine has steadily made its way across
the state from the mountains to the coast, including Brunswick County, N.C.

Since 1999, 10 meth labs have been found in Brunswick County, with five of
those being found in the past year.

In March, a meth lab, which includes environmentally hazardous materials,
was found about 500 feet from the ocean on Oak Island.

The State Bureau of Investigation estimates that it costs between $4,000
and $10,000 to clean up every meth lab site because of the hazardous materials.

Last summer, a mobile meth lab was found a few hundred feet from Bolivia
Elementary School.

Meth labs near children aren't uncommon, according to Cooper's report.

In 2003, about 25 percent of homes with meth labs in them had children
residing in them, the report said.

Although increasing numbers of meth labs are being found on the coast, the
mountain region of the state still has the biggest problem.

Cooper is recommending that more SBI agents be assigned to the western
region of the state and that the SBI's crime laboratories in Raleigh and
the mountain regions be expanded.

The report released Wednesday is part of an increasing public awareness
campaign of the state's growing methamphetamine problem, which the report
says the public is just now beginning to understand.

The report recommends starting a Web site to educate the public and mailing
pamphlets on the problem to churches, community organizations and local
agencies.

Other recommendations in the report include monitoring and possibly
limiting the sale of over-the-counter items such as ephedrine, which is
used in part to make meth.