OF METH LABS AND JUSTICE FOR YOUTHS

They lead to a rise in crime rates, create drug addicts, turn normal
lives into nightmares and present an enormous public safety hazard.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, methamphetamine is
the fastest-growing abused drug in rural America and is the only
controlled substance that can be produced by someone without chemical
expertise.

In 2003, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department uncovered 28 meth
labs, resulting in 17 arrests. It's clear to me, given our experience
in Bernalillo County, that this problem has reached epidemic
proportions statewide.

In 1999, as an Albuquerque city councilor, I introduced legislation
limiting the amount of ephedrine that could be sold over the counter
to a consumer. Ephedrine is the key component in the illegal
manufacture of methamphetamine and can be obtained from various
over-the-counter products, such as decongestants. The passage of this
bill allowed vendors to sell no more than three packages of any
product containing ephedrine during one transaction.

Meth labs are easily set up in residences, vehicles, apartments and
hotels and only require common household appliances, glassware and
chemicals and over-the-counter drugs to produce this highly addictive
menace.

The one factor that can be controlled is the availability of the drug
central to making the methamphetamine, and that is ephedrine.

I have requested that Gov. Bill Richardson and the Legislature limit
the sale of ephedrine statewide in the upcoming legislative session.

It is critical to regulate the sale of this drug in order to control
the manufacturing of the illegal substance methamphetamine.

Meth labs and the consumption of drugs produced create a dangerous and
serious threat to the health and safety of our communities and the
environment. I urge residents to join me in this appeal.

Michael Brasher is a Bernalillo County Commission member representing
the East Mountain Area and is a former Albuquerque city councilor.

The trouble with jailing juveniles

By Mary-Dale Bolson

At first, you might think the juvenile justice system reform efforts
at the community and state level don't hold young people accountable
for their actions.

But look again, and you might change your mind.

Both locally and nationally, there is growing information suggesting
there are better community approaches to help troubled youth become
productive citizens. And these approaches keep our communities safer
by reducing the chance of further involvement in criminal activity.

These approaches already have worked well in Bernalillo County, and we
want to expand the efforts across New Mexico.

We'll be asking the upcoming Legislature to help us do
that.

Initially, we want the Legislature to allow us to use more than $5
million that New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department state
facilities have saved by significantly reducing our population of
juvenile offenders. The facilities are designed to handle 646
juveniles, but we have managed to reduce the number recently to as few
as 355.

We want to use the resulting budget savings to provide support to
community programs that will offer successful alternatives to standard
juvenile detention.

The National Center of Juvenile Justice tells us that more than half
of the detained youths are age 15 or younger and that 70 percent are
held for nonviolent offenses.

These young people are served better in their local communities
through programs that address the issues causing them to act out.

Our department is working closely with local communities to develop
services for youths instead of detention or incarceration. These
services include shelters, home monitoring programs, counseling and
community reporting centers.

The strength of the system reform effort is that it requires families,
schools and communities to help create a support system for young
people. Family and community involvement doesn't always happen when a
young person is placed in a local or state facility.

In 1998, Rio Rancho Rep. Tom Swisstack, Albuquerque Rep. Rick Miera
and Albuquerque Juvenile Judge Michael Martinez started a juvenile
justice system reform program in Bernalillo County.

A committee of juvenile court, probation, district attorney, public
defender and detention center staff members worked together to set up
the program.

The program continues to improve decision-making about youths who
really need to be held in detention and who could be served better
through community programs.

A report on youths in the Bernalillo County program says that only 5
percent committed new misdemeanor crimes; 17 percent returned to
detention for not following probation rules; and 76 percent completed
their program successfully without any new offenses. None of the
youths in the program committed a new felony.

The Children, Youth and Families Department and Bernalillo County are
working together to help other New Mexico communities build similar
detention reform programs. The programs in local communities will be
developed to meet the needs of children and families in the area.

System reform programs are improving the child welfare system by
causing juvenile justice and child protection professionals to work as
a team on family cases.

Many troubled youths have experienced some form of child abuse or
family violence at home. By strengthening families with assistance
from a child protection and juvenile justice team, the chances for
helping these young people stay out of the juvenile justice system
increases greatly.

Clearly, there are troubled youths who need to be in a facility to
keep our communities safe. But there are many young people in the
juvenile justice system that could benefit from system reform and
community services.

By locking up these young people when other services to hold them
accountable do exist, we miss out on important opportunities and
better approaches that are less costly, less punitive and ultimately
far more successful.

Mary-Dale Bolson is secretary of the New Mexico. Children, Youth and
Families Department in Santa Fe.