METHAMPHETAMINE HELP SOUGHT

Harrisonburg-Area Officials Want Legislators To Make Penalties For The Drug
Stiffer

HARRISONBURG - Police in the Shenandoah Valley are looking to the General
Assembly for help in fighting methamphetamine trafficking, a problem that
arrived in the area relatively recently but in a big way.

Trafficking in the drug is concentrated in and around Harrisonburg and
along the Interstate 81 corridor.

Local authorities have had to prosecute with penalties they consider to be
too light for big-time pushers, said Tom Murphy, coordinator of the drug
task force for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

"The community leaders we have are well aware of the situation," Murphy
said. "In other parts of the state, they're not as familiar with the
problems of meth because they don't have it in their back yard."

Murphy and others are seeking stiffer penalties for traffickers. Some
believe that approach has proven ineffective for addressing drug abuse.

Nevertheless, state Sen.-elect Mark D. Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, plans to
introduce legislation at the upcoming assembly session that would provide
methamphetamine the same sentencing guidelines as cocaine.

The influx of the drug began about six years ago.

Murphy is a special agent with the Virginia State Police Drug Enforcement
Division.

He heads the RUSH Drug Task Force, an eight-person team that uses personnel
from the Harrisonburg Police Department and the Rockingham County Sheriff's
Office.

Over the last three years, RUSH has seized about 15 pounds of
methamphetamine per year, he said.

Combined with the Northwest Regional Drug Task Force to the north of RUSH,
the units have seized the overwhelming majority of methamphetamine
confiscated in the state the past few years.

Also called speed, ice and crank, methamphetamine is a stimulant that
causes hyperactivity and euphoria. Users can remain awake for days at a
time. They ingest the drug by smoking, snorting or taking it orally like a
pill.

Valley users tend to be those who work extra jobs and take the drug to stay
awake for second, third or overnight shifts in local plants.

Interstate 81 provides convenient transport for the traffic, Murphy said.

Local lawmakers have proposed the assembly enact harsher penalties for
methamphetamine before, but without success.

Obenshain plans to introduce a bill that would impose stiffer sentences on
dealers caught with especially large amounts, as sentencing guidelines do
for cocaine. He does not think the traffic will be as concentrated
regionally for much longer without more deterrence.

"I suspect it's not going to continue to be unique to the Shenandoah
Valley," Obenshain said. "I believe it's going to be an increasing problem
in other parts of the state."

Under state law, methamphetamine is handled the same as heroin, cocaine and
others considered among the most dangerous drugs, but without the penalty
enhancements for higher amounts of cocaine.

A conviction for making, possessing or distributing the stimulant is
punishable by five to 40 years on the first offense and five years to life
on second offense. A third conviction is punishable with five years to
life, but comes with a mandatory three-years imprisonment.

The idea that toughening those penalties will reduce the flow of drugs or
the number of users has its doubters.

Lennice Werth is a member of Virginians Against Drug Violence, based in
Crewe, which advocates ending the drug war.

"All these penalties are already very stiff," Werth said. "If the sentences
are already long, making them longer is just going to cost more in
incarceration. And you have to ask, is it going to be effective? There's no
evidence that it's going to be effective."

Murphy disagrees.

Judges can suspend part or all of even the minimum sentences required under
state law.

Guaranteeing prison time as federal drug-sentencing guidelines do would
make potential dealers think twice and help police use suspects to make
bigger cases, he said.

"I think it's a deterrence, and it does make a difference," he said. "When
we indict somebody federally as opposed to [in state courts] the federal
courts have mandatory minimum guidelines, and they're black-and-white.
Without their cooperation, the judges have to adhere to the guidelines."