COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS LONGER PRISON TIME FOR METH-MAKERS

A legislative committee recommended yesterday that the General Assembly
pass several bills designed to stiffen penalties for people who make
methamphetamines.

The number of meth labs discovered by authorities, particularly in Western
North Carolina, have surged in recent years. State officials, particularly
Attorney General Roy Cooper, have pushed for more equipment, training and
enforcement tools to root out the labs.

With Cooper in attendance, the committee signed off on four bills that
would increase prison time for people who manufacture the drug or make it
in the presence of children. A manufacturer also could be found guilty of
second-degree murder if someone fatally overdoses on meth they made.

"The penalties for manufacturing very seldom result in anytime behind
bars," Cooper said after the meeting. Sheriffs are "complaining to me that
these meth lab (makers) are back on the streets before the paperwork is done."

The primary bill, drafted for the committee, would upgrade the felony for
manufacturing meth from a Class H crime to Class C. That would nearly
double the maximum prison time from 25 to 49 months. Currently, first-time
offenders can receive community service.

Putting more people in prison will lead to less crime, since those addicted
to the drug often are agitated and violent, proponents argue.

The legislation also would allow judges to consider manufacturing the drug
in a home where children are present as an aggravating factor in sentencing.