BURKS VOWS NOT TO GIVE UP IN FIGHT FOR TOUGH ANTI-METH LAWS

What's stopping the Tennessee legislature from coming down hard on the
production and sale of methamphetamine as the epidemic of abuse grows
across the state? According to State Sen. Charlotte Burks of Monterey,
three things account for the lawmakers' lack of response:

* Legislators who know about the drug epidemic but represent areas
that are still untouched by it and aren't concerned that it's
eventually going to impact them as well and won't support bills
punishing drug producers;

* Retail lobbyists who are persuading legislators to put very little
muscle behind deterrents;

* The lack of money to set up effective punishments for those who
manufacture and sell drugs.

But Sen. Burks hasn't given up the fight.

First steps

Burks has been working for sometime to address the growing drug
problem in Middle Tennessee. She was instrumental in creating
legislation to see that the exposure of children to methamphetamine
would be dealt with as child abuse. Children now are removed from
families where meth is produced.

But much of the time Burks and others seem to be fighting a losing
battle.

Last year she sponsored a bill that would have required retailers like
Walgreens and Wal-Mart that sell pharmaceuticals and household
products that may be used in the making of meth to put some
restrictions on the sale of those items.

But retailers association lobbyist Russell Palk met with the House
Judiciary Committee and convinced the members that such a law would
hurt the retailers, said Burks. The bill never made it out of the
House sub-committee.

"Locally we get such good cooperation from retailers," Burks told the
Herald-Citizen. "But at the state level, they don't want to get involved...

"Lobbyists are too strong in Nashville. They have too much input on
how laws are passed. They're not all bad, of course. Sometimes they
can give you a different view or educate you.

"They can serve a good purpose but sometimes they don't seem to serve
the best interests of the people," said the Monterey senator.

Towns with answers

When her proposal died in committee, she was delighted to see some of
the towns in Middle Tennessee take matters into their own hands.

"I wanted the ordinances to pass in Putnam County," she
said.

Led by Cookeville, all four Putnam County towns, including Algood,
Baxter and Monterey, passed community ordinances that require
retailers to keep records on the sales of meth materials as well as
asking retailers to train employees to keep a close watch on the
purchasers of items containing meth materials. Retailers in all
communities have expressed support for the ordinance.

This month the Drug Investigation Division of the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation in partnership with the Governor's Office, the Tennessee
Police Chiefs Association, the Tennessee Retailers Association and the
Tennessee Sheriffs Association launched a statewide education program
based on Burks's efforts last year and as a result of the success of
the area ordinances.

"They (the legislators) are beginning to understand what a problem
this is in the state, but I was hoping for a stronger bill," Burks
said.

While Gov. Bredesen called the statewide program a "critical first
step in addressing the drug problem," the program does less to track
possible meth producers than the town ordinances enacted in Putnam
County.

"It's similar to the Putnam County ordinances but the state's Meth
Watch is more for education than enforcement. It's acting more as an
alert to the community," said Sen. Burks's executive assistant, Pam
Ash.

Money problems

The state is having difficulty in getting past education to actual
enforcement. Providing tough penalties for drug production costs money
for incarceration that the state doesn't have.

"Every time we increase the penalty for drug production, there's a
fiscal response," Burks said.

Costs for the clean-up of hazardous materials in meth labs, which can
run into the tens of thousands, is currently picked up by the federal
government.

"Right now the federal government is paying for everything. But sooner
or later those bills are going to come to the states and we won't know
what to do," Burks said.

She pointed out that there is a price tag the state is already paying.
With costs of nearly $7,200 per child to remove 562 children from meth
homes and place them in foster care, last year the bill to Tennessee
was over $4 million.

But if the money can't be raised for stricter penalties, Tennessee is
going to continue to see meth producers move into rural Tennessee from
the adjacent states, driven here by legislators there who have found
the money to create mandatory sentencing for drug manufacturers.

"We probably could have passed legislation to stiffen the drug
penalties, too, but we have no funds. Somehow we have to find the
money," Burks said.

Burks has a petition bearing more than 6,000 names from Middle
Tennesseans asking the legislature to assign mandatory minimums to
those arrested for meth production or use.

"I'll take the petition to the governor. It will show him that people
are concerned here," she said.

But Burks didn't see how the legislature could initiate mandatory
sentencing without more money in state coffers for incarceration costs.

Instead she is relying on the continued actions and help of the TBI
and area law enforcement groups and even churches to keep the spread
of meth production down in the Upper Cumberland.

"Sheriff Butch Burgess in Cumberland County has been working with the
churches to have their congregations take meth kids on a temporary
basis. Sheriff Burgess is a real model -- as are Cookeville Chief Bob
Terry and Putnam County Sheriff David Andrews," she said.

Burks is depending on actions that will educate Tennesseans to help
put a stop to the continued spread of drug use.

"If we can just educate the young people -- I can't say enough about
Bill Gibson (District Attorney General) and the DA's office," Burks
said.

The DA's office has recently been given a sizeable grant that has paid
for an additional assistant district attorney who devotes his time
exclusively to meth cases and to the production of a CD that will
educate citizens on the dangers of methamphetamine.

"The community has been wonderful," Burks said.

"The CD will be the best thing to educate our children. They say it
only takes one time of using meth and you're doomed. You can't play
around with it. We almost have to mark the adults off unless they can
receive a Christian based rehabilitation. I guess we need the power
from above to get help on this," Burks said.

"I don't want the message to be watered down. Kids need to see the
reality of this drug. It won't hurt them to be scared," she said.

Future legislation

For the future, Sen. Burks sees other legislators beginning to get
tough.

"Charles Curtiss (state representative from White County) has been
drafting a law to address the fact that the owners of motel rooms and
meth lab homes will have to make restitution for the clean up."

And Burks has begun to work with the TBI on a bill with some teeth in
it. "We hope to get something meaningful this year. We just have to
keep trying."

She recounted a memory from her late husband Tommy's tenure as state
senator about 25 years ago. He became concerned over the marijuana use
in Middle Tennessee and wanted to make the sale of drug paraphernalia
illegal.

"It took him nine years to get that law," she said.

"He failed eight times before the legislators caught up with the need.
He always said you have to be tenacious and patient. So that's what
I've learned to be."

For those who want to join in Charlotte Burks's fight to get stronger
deterrents to meth use and manufacture, she recommends several actions.

* Ask your local retail store managers to tell their corporate
headquarters that they want to actively combat meth production;

* Volunteer to help take care of kids who have been removed from meth
homes or join one of the anti-drug coalitions that are forming;

* Call the Judiciary Committee (which decides which bills will reach
the floors of the Senate and House) and ask for action on the meth
problem. The number of the House Judiciary is 1-615 741-1351; the
number for the Senate Judiciary is 1-615 741-7821.