METH SHATTERING FAMILIES LOCALLY, ACROSS TENNESSEE

Though it is not as big a problem here as elsewhere in Tennessee,
methamphetamine still is shattering families, a state children's services
department official said Friday.

"It's not really as much of a problem here as it is in some other counties, but
we are seeing an increase in methamphetamine use," said Dimple Dudley, area
supervisor for the department of children's services in Crockett, Dyer, Lake
and Obion counties. "We're seeing the biggest increase in involvement with
methamphetamine in Obion County."

She said this year so far four children have been removed from their families'
custody because of the families' involvement with meth.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive synthetic drug made with dangerous
ingredients when they are "cooked" to manufacture meth.

A statewide count requested by the Associated Press found that at least 600
children across the state have been taken from parents involved with the
addictive stimulant and placed in state custody since the start of 2002.

"We actually have taken four children this year from their parents in our
four-county region," Dudley said. "One has been in custody for about a year.

The count requested by The Associated Press does not include meth-displaced
children who are placed with relatives.

The Tennessee Department of Children's Services in an incomplete count reported
placing 112 children in foster care due to meth investigations since March 1. A
count provided the AP in late February showed 488 children taken into state
custody since Jan. 1, 2002.

The new count included 53 in the department's Southeast region, 46 in the Upper
Cumberland and 13 in the Northeast region. DCS spokeswoman Carla Aaron said
totals of meth-related custody removals in the other regions were not
immediately available.

Dudley said the local figure does not include two groups -- children under 18
who are in custody because of their own involvement with meth and those who
have been placed with relatives.

She said she is uncertain of the effect of meth exposure on unborn children
carried by pregnant women exposed to meth.

"I do know that when we remove children from homes where meth is being cooked
we have to take them to a doctor for a health checkup and we aren't allowed to
go into the house because of the danger."

Meth is made with commonly available materials -- ephedrine from cold tablets
blended with hazardous materials such as drain cleaner (sulfuric acid) and
matchbook striking pads (red phosphorous) or anhydrous ammonia.

Odorous vapors from cooking -- sometimes on kitchen stoves -- the hazardous
chemicals cause respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, rashes and sores.
Exposure can cause loss of consciousness and even death, and the labs sometimes
explode and burn.

Long-term meth use can create paranoia and hallucinations.

Clothing, toys and other belongings are considered contaminated by such
exposure. When parents are arrested, often at night, children are whisked away
with nothing. Contaminated belongings must be removed by workers wearing gas
masks and protective suits.

Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Holt said methamphetamine use is rising here.

"We're seeing its use go up," he said. "It's apparently the drug of choice now
and more people are getting into bathtub chemistry in making it."

Holt said the majority of labs discovered locally are small home labs and not
the major mega-labs he has heard about in other parts of the state.

"East and Middle Tennessee are probably getting the worst of it, but it's
coming here," Holt said. "Our number of arrests and the percentage of our
caseload attributed to meth is climbing fast."

Holt said his deputies have had special training and use special equipment,
such as air packs, when dismantling meth labs.

"When we find children in the homes we take them out of the danger and call
children's services to take custody and find them foster care," he said.

Diane Easterly, team leader for the department's SE region, told the Associated
Press she just returned from a foster-parent conference and reports of
''finding more and more babies addicted.''

Easterly said such newborns should be monitored and counseled as they grow up
to help them avoid addiction.

In Grundy County, a 3-week-old, meth-addicted baby born with a heart problem in
a hospital emergency room, is still being treated and fed intravenously, said
Wanda VanHooser, a state child-protection investigator.

''The mother is out of the hospital doing her own thing. She has not been
charged with anything,'' VanHooser said. ''The child is in state custody. The
child will leave the hospital with us.''

VanHooser, who is not allowed to provide information about the child's
identity, said an ''investigation is continuing. If the child dies, the mother
can be charged.''

A state law that took effect in 2002 is making it easier to remove children who
are exposed to meth making by defining such cases as severe child abuse.

Federal Drug Enforcement Agency records in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville
and Memphis reflect what agents describe as a growing popularity and an
apparent eastward migration of the drug.

Investigators have complained that sales of ingredients used in making meth
need to be controlled. Tennessee lawmakers this year refused to approve such a
measure.

State Sen. Larry Trail, D-Murfreesboro, who is chairman of the Legislature's
Select Committee on Children and Youth, predicted Thursday that lawmakers will
take action against meth next year.

He said it is ''incredible how addictive it is and how awful it is.''

Dudley said meth labs in houses are not the only problem she has seen.

"There have been cases where the labs were found in vans and the backs of cars
in addition to those in houses," she said.