METH: TOP DRUG SCOURGE NEEDS ATTENTION

The drug scourge in East Tennessee and no doubt much of the nation for the
current decade is going to be methamphetamine, often referred to as the
poor man's cocaine.

State and federal authorities have labeled meth as the No. 1 drug threat in
rural America, but it is spreading from the countryside to urban areas,
from isolated homes in hollows to motels and homes in cities. Thus far,
even public knowledge of the devastation it wreaks does not pose a deterrent.

A recent series of articles by Bill Poovey of the Associated Press showed
the deadly hold methamphetamine has on those who try to make it using a
combination of over-the-counter drugs and household cleaning products. The
stories also illustrated the tragic effects on children of users and
manufacturers of the illegal drug.

"The saddest thing you can ever see, come in at 3 or 4 in the morning, and
see a kid sitting there with a paper bag. That's all their worldly
possessions," said Cumberland County Sheriff Butch Burgess.

Or listen to Theresa Looper, a Children's Services team coordinator for
Cumberland and six other counties on the Cumberland Plateau, when she says
methamphetamine is destroying families: "I would like to tell you that
people's children are more important to them than being addicted to meth,
but that's not true. It just gets such a grip on them they can't turn loose
of it."

A national report by the Drug Enforcement Administration Intelligence
Center in El Paso, Texas, showed that children were found in at least 1,504
meth-lab seizures.

Methamphetamine's popularity no doubt is due to the ease with which it is
possible to make the drug, but that is a deceptive notion that at times can
have a lethal effect.

The drug can be produced from readily bought items such as Ephredine in
cold tablets, drain cleaner, iodine and lye. Usually snorted or injected,
it can make the user feel euphoric, energized and powerful. Addicts might
be able to go days without sleep but pay a price with aggressiveness and
paranoia.

Its horrendous impact on adults and children notwithstanding, state laws
have a ways to go to catch up with the spread of the drug. The failure of
Tennessee's Legislature to deal with the issue effectively during the
recently concluded session is an example.

The state's lawmakers refused to pass statutes restricting the sale of some
over-the-counter medicines used to make methamphetamine, even though the
state's retailers said they had agreed to a statewide limit. One problem
with the legislation apparently was the lack of any restrictions on local
governments to enact their own ordinances concerning meth.

The proposed law was weak - misdemeanor penalties for selling in one
transaction more than three packages of one or more of the medicines or
more than three grams. This apparently would not prevent a potential user
from going from store to store to buy what he or she needed.

Tougher penalties for manufacturing the drug as well as using it, plus
greater punishment for endangering children, should be part of the
comprehensive bill planned for next year by Rep. Judd Metheny, R-Tullahoma,
the House sponsor. Greater public awareness of the dangers of
methamphetamine and telephone hot lines for reporting suspected manufacture
of the concoction also might help.

Methamphetamine now is part of the drug war. The battleground is our
backyards and neighborhoods, and the effects of the drug on children should
steel our courage for the fight.