FIGHTING METH CRISIS

The meth crisis here in Putnam County and Middle Tennessee is so great that
the federal government is giving half a million dollars to help fix it. But
even with all that money, if the Tennessee legislature doesn't create
anti-drug laws as tough as the ones in neighboring states, Tennessee will
probably remain the location of choice for meth producers and users.

"Tennessee's laws are among the weakest in the nation," said Gary McKenzie,
the prosecutor in the District Attorney's office in Cookeville who, starting
in December, will be assigned exclusively to methamphetamine cases in the
Upper Cumberland.

"I didn't realize how far behind we are until I talked with representatives
from Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama," he said. "These states have enacted
severe mandatory sentencing.

"Tennessee has twice as many labs as any of the adjoining states which have
harsher laws for drug use. These laws do make a difference," McKenzie said.

Tennessee No. 1

"Tennessee now is highest in the nation in number of reported (meth) labs.
We had 1,100 labs reported last year. The next highest number from any other
state was 650.

"And the meth problem in our area is as bad as any place in Tennessee.
Putnam County and Cumberland County are in the top five counties in
Tennessee in reported cases of meth use and production," he said.

It's because meth use has become so bad here that Congressmen Bart Gordon
and Lincoln Davis sponsored the half million dollar grant for the 13th
Judicial Task Force that will pay for the equipment and training of 40 law
enforcement officers in the handling and clean up of hazardous materials
found in the meth labs in the eight Middle Tennessee counties.

In addition, the grant money will pay McKenzie's salary, help start a
non-profit agency that will be working with children from meth-user families
and provide funding for prevention and education programs for the community
including production of an educational CD-ROM.

"More than anything else this is a community problem," McKenzie said.

Chemical burns

"I don't think the public realizes how much this concerns the entire
community. The run-off from meth use has a ripple effect we don't even think
about. For instance, one of the clerks for one of the judges in Cumberland
County had to do the paperwork for the meth users brought in.

"That meant she had to ask them questions and talk to them while filling out
the forms. One day she suddenly became ill and had to be taken to the
Emergency Room. They found chemical burns on her body just from her having
been that close to people using the chemicals in methamphetamine."

For all citizens the questions can be as simple as, Will the chemicals seep
into the water supply system? Is someone going to end up buying a house
that's being auctioned off inexpensively because it was used as a meth lab?
Home owners are not required to say why they're selling their homes and an
eager buyer could end up with a terrible investment.

Are you planning on staying in a motel on your next trip? What assurance can
you get that your room was not used as a 'meth lab' at one point and isn't
holding some residue of the caustic substances used to cook the drug?

The place where every 'lab' is found must go through an extensive and costly
chemical clean up process by specially trained and equipped officers. But
property owners are under no legal obligation to reveal the fact that the
house or motel room you just bought or slept in has been used to make
methamphetamine.

Public must help

McKenzie is hoping as the public learns about the far reaching affect of
methamphetamine, they will complain loudly and often to their elected
representatives.

"Sen. (Charlotte) Burks has already begun that fight. She tried to pass
tougher laws regulating the precursor chemicals [over-the-counter cold
remedies and others] that go into the make-up of meth, but her proposal
failed in the legislature. Legitimate drug companies have a very strong
lobby," McKenzie said.

"I know she's dedicated to this and I think she will continue this fight
until she's victorious," he said.

"We need citizens to get LOUD about this. The representatives in the
legislature who don't presently have a meth problem are going to learn that
this is an epidemic and it eventually touches everyone, but we'd rather not
have to wait a long time for them to find this out."

McKenzie sees his job as having a two-fold responsibility.

"My goal is to prosecute meth to the fullest extent of the law and to
advocate for stronger statutes to better combat the problem.

"But this will take a collective voice. It will take citizens coming
together like the 'Cookeville Coalition.' It will take that kind of
movement," he said.

Council ordinance

He praised the Cookeville City Council for the meth ordinance that requires
retailers to keep records on sales of and a close watch on meth materials.
And he praised the churches that have come together to create a petition
that is asking the legislature for mandatory and harsh sentencing for meth
producers.

"That petition is a wonderful idea. I urge everyone to sign it," he said.

What else can the public do to get the word to Nashville that meth is a
bio-terrorism threat much closer to home than the one posed in the Middle
East?

"Write to the governor," McKenzie said. "Tell him we need much stricter laws
and preventative plans to stop the use and production of meth.

"This is a drug that is 10-times as powerful, and addictive, as cocaine.
Meth has a 97 percent recidivism rate. It dominates your life within a week
or month after you start taking it. You deteriorate physically and mentally
and become obsessed with getting high again," he said.

"Cocaine is considered to be the number one drug in the US. In contrast,
crack cocaine never made it to the top 10 of recreational illegal drugs.
Methamphetamine, on the other hand, is currently number two and is expected
to become number one next year."

Child victims

The most tragic victims of the drug are the children of users and producers,
McKenzie said.

"It's a terrible sight to see what it does to the children," he said.

In Putnam County last year 123 children were taken into state custody
because they were endangered by their parents' use or production of
methamphetamine. So far this year, 154 children have already been removed
from dangerous homes.

To combat that, part of the grant money is going to support a Child Advocacy
Center, independent of the District Attorney's office, created to help meth
kids and others kids affected by drugs.

"It will take this year to get it up and running, but then it will be there
for those who need it," McKenzie said.

In addition, the grant will eventually fund a hotline for those who may want
to report the location of a meth lab or just get help for their addiction.

McKenzie gives three men special credit for putting the grant money to good
use.

"Law enforcement sees what has to be done. Putnam County Sheriff David
Andrews, Cookeville Police Chief Bob Terry and Butch Burgess, the sheriff of
Cumberland County, have worked hard on every aspect of this. They know
prevention is the key.

"So, in addition to training their officers in the apprehension of meth
producers and the clean up of meth labs, they've sent speakers to the
schools to get kids informed about the realities of meth use," he said.

"They've just begun to gear up for this fight.

"No program in the US has been successful that focused only on enforcement.
The best programs combine law enforcement with prevention and
rehabilitation," McKenzie said.

"In the end it will take community effort to make our programs successful."

* To write to the governor, address any note or postcard to Gov. Phil
Bredesen, State Capitol Building, Nashville, TN 37243-0001.

* To sign the petition asking the state legislature to make stronger laws
and mandatory sentencing for meth production and use, call (931) 528-8892.