STORE CLERKS ENLISTED FOR METH BATTLE

NASHVILLE - Tennessee retailers are teaming with law enforcement to fight
what is being called an epidemic of methamphetamine usage that is wreaking
havoc in families, courtrooms, jails and hospitals.

David Jennings, interim director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation,
told people at a statewide conference Monday that the "Tennessee Meth
Watch" initiative will begin later this week.

Employees at small stores and big chains will be asked to call a toll-free
number - 1-877-TNN-METH - to report suspicious purchases of household items
used to make the illegal drug.

Posters listing the items - which include cold pills containing ephedrine
or pseudoephedrine, rubbing alcohol, drain cleaner, salt and matches - will
be placed in employee breakrooms. And stickers emblazoned with the
"Tennessee Meth Watch" logo will be placed prominently on store doors and
at cash registers.

"Is this a magic bullet? No. Is this a magic shot? No, but we have to do
something," Jennings said during the opening session of the three-day
Methamphetamine Response Conference.

Law enforcement officials also will work with retailers on legislation that
would limit purchases of some of those items, particularly cold pills. Such
bills have failed in recent years.

Russell Palk of the Tennessee Retail Association said that under the new
initiative store employees also will question customers purchasing those
items and perhaps make them sign a log that includes their names, addresses
and phone numbers.

The program is hoped to deter or catch meth makers and users.

Palk said a similar program in Kansas made a significant dent in that
state's production of meth.

Tennessee is second in the nation in meth production, according to U.S.
Atty. James Vines of Nashville, who was among several officials to say the
drug is the worst they've dealt with in their careers.

During fiscal 2000, 235 clandestine meth labs were found in Tennessee.

In fiscal 2003, which ended in September, 1,154 labs were found, said Harry
Sommers of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

"It's a horrible epidemic which is going wild in Tennessee. It's sent
thousands of Tennesseans to jail, it's taken 500 children from their
families and cost taxpayers millions of dollars in environmental cleanup
costs," said Karen Sowers, dean of the University of Tennessee's College of
Social Work. "The epidemic is straining law enforcement and social service
agencies, and it shows no sign of letting up any time soon."

People at the conference - including law enforcement officials, social and
child welfare workers, and hospital officials - hope to come up with solutions.

The most heartbreaking impact of meth addiction is the impact on children,
attendees agreed.

In McMinn County alone last year 18 children were removed from their homes
and placed in foster care, and another 49 were placed with relatives, said
James Watson, a juvenile court and general sessions judge.

In some cases addicted parents are willingly giving up children to get
their next fix, teens are dying of heart attacks, newborns are having
seizures and young children exposed to the drug suffer from kidney and
liver ailments, according to Dr. Sullivan Smith of Cookeville Regional
Medical Center.

Life expectancy for an addict is less than five years, he said.