METH: TRYING TO STOP A SCOURGE

The number of methamphetamine labs discovered by law enforcement in Montana
is skyrocketing.

In 1999, authorities busted 16 labs. In 2000, the number grew to 33. In
2001, 86 labs were seized. In the first quarter of the fiscal year
beginning Oct. 1, 43 labs already had been discovered.

It surely was an eye-opener for high school students to watch people their
age or not much older get sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms last
week. The infuriating thing is that such lessons continue to be necessary.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy invited the teen-agers to sit in his
courtroom Thursday during sentencing proceeding for people busted last year
for manufacturing and selling methamphetamine. The ring leader, 25-year-old
Justin Norcutt of Helena, received 156 months - 13 years - in prison
followed by five years of supervised release. Other young people, ages 18,
19, and 21, had been convicted of lessor charges and got sentences ranging
from two and a half to four and a half years.

Norcutt's family asked for leniency during his hearing, but Molloy said an
appropriate punishment must be set for people who are involved in "a form
of domestic terror." The judge said, "What he was doing in this community
has destroyed other families in this community."

That's obviously true. There is utterly no doubt about impact of meth and
other hard drugs. There's nothing campy or overblown about the ease and
swiftness with which they destroy lives.

Nor is it any secret that authorities are finding more meth labs all the
time, which means more and more people sent to prison. These dealer not
only destroy other families, they are ruining their own lives as well.

Young people growing up today have the information they need to steer clear
of the stuff. Yet, for whatever reason, that information too often fails to
take.

Following Norcutt's sentencing last week, U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer told
the students he hoped their experience would help them make the right
choice when faced with an opportunity to use or sell drugs. "We don't want
you to be in this position," he said. "You now know better."

If only "knowing better" would always do the trick.