DRUG MONEY

If North Carolinians want an effective law-enforcement campaign against
illegal methamphetamine, they had better be ready to pay for it.

Gov. Mike Easley and Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that
the state will use a $500,000 grant from the Governor's Crime Commission to
buy two new mobile crime labs. That will give the state four of the
vehicles, and four more are needed.

The costs, of course, don't stop there. In May, Cooper will ask the
legislature for 42 additional SBI positions at an annual cost of $2.04
million. The new personnel would be field agents, chemists and other lab
workers.

Once bad guys are caught, they must be put somewhere. Right now, Easley and
Cooper argue, the state's penalties for the manufacture of methamphetamine,
also known as "meth," are too lax. So, they want to replace the current
Class H felony, with relatively light sentences, with a more serious Class
C felony. That would mean more people in a prison system that is already
facing space constraints.

So if North Carolinians really want to fight this new drug war, they'd
better be ready to buy new equipment, pay for more agents and lab
scientists, and provide for locking away offenders.

Doing so will be worth every dime spent. That's because meth production is
skyrocketing in North Carolina, and it leaves problems in its wake that are
unlike those of any other illegal drug. They include costs for child
welfare, environmental cleanup, and police and social worker medical care.

At his press conference, Easley noted that the production of one pound of
meth creates between five and seven pounds of hazardous waste. The
manufacturers are dumping this waste into streams, community waste systems
and onto the ground. That could mean enormous cleanup costs each time a lab
is found. The SBI estimates that the taxpayer cost to clean a site runs as
high as $10,000.

Children have been present in one-quarter of the labs uncovered. Meth is a
highly dangerous drug, and the manufacturing process sends hazardous fumes
into the air. Children living in a home where meth is made inhale these
fumes and get seriously ill. They may end up with lifelong health problems.
Once their parents are in jail, these children are, of course, wards of the
state.

Finally, law-enforcement officers and social workers face these same
hazardous conditions when they find a lab. While steps are being taken to
protect these people, the fact is that law enforcement often comes upon a
lab without realizing that there is a meth danger there.

So, North Carolinians can face the methamphetamine reality. They can, to
paraphrase the old TV ad, pay to fight this drug war now or they can pay to
do so later. But there'll be no avoiding, one way or the other, the costs
of this horrible drug.