Pubdate: Sun, 15 Aug 2004
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
d0624e1050.html
Copyright: 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/letters/sendletter.html
Website: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Jill Young Miller, Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON FIGHTING METH

Arrests Soar As Powerful Drug, Often Made In Homes, Spreads Further In Georgia.

To wrestle a drug problem that's hitting Georgia hard, more than 200 
federal, state and local officials are expected for a summit in Atlanta 
this week.

The goal is to come up with state and local strategies to combat the rapid 
spread of methamphetamine --- a powerful stimulant often cooked up in 
dangerous homemade labs --- before it overwhelms law enforcement, the 
courts, social services and drug treatment centers.

"It has been just rampant," said Becky Vaughn, president of the Georgia 
Council on Substance Abuse. "We are at a point right now where we've seen a 
real spike in arrests and treatment admissions. Our goal is to try to keep 
that rampage from charging through Georgia."

Last year, police raided 701 meth labs in Georgia, up from 29 just four 
years earlier, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. By the end 
of May, the count for this year already had reached 373. The drug also is 
imported into Georgia from large labs in Mexico.

Gov. Sonny Perdue and the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse are hosting 
the federally funded summit Tuesday and Wednesday at the Omni Hotel. Those 
invited include police, fire and emergency officials; health, drug 
treatment, child protection and environmental officials; and lawmakers, 
judges, prosecutors, educators, retailers and even motel operators, because 
some people make meth in rented rooms. After a lineup of speakers including 
Perdue, they will spend much of the two days in working groups, devising 
recommendations for their communities and the state.

"Methamphetamine abuse . . . is an issue we would like to get ahold of 
prior to it becoming an epidemic as it has out West," said Rebecca 
Sullivan, policy adviser to Perdue. "There are a lot of people in Georgia 
who are addressing this problem, but they aren't necessarily working 
together, and they're not aware of what each other is doing."

Tighter controls

A hot topic among law enforcement officers is likely to be a new law in 
Oklahoma credited with cutting the number of meth labs there in half. Under 
that law, which took effect in April, only pharmacies may sell tablets 
containing pseudoephedrine, such as Sudafed, a key ingredient of the 
illegal drug. Convenience stories and other retailers had to remove the 
tablets from their shelves. The pharmacies must keep the drugs behind their 
counters and require customers to show photo identification and sign for 
the medicine.

The number of meth labs raided in Oklahoma dropped from 100 in March to 50 
in June, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

"You can't ignore that success story," said Phil Price, the GBI's special 
agent in charge of drug enforcement for 37 North Georgia counties. "It's my 
feeling that this is the next step in the progression to trying to get a 
handle on this homemade meth issue."

Sherri Strange, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's special agent in 
charge of the Atlanta Field Division, said Oklahoma's law grew out of a 
meth summit in that state.

California, Washington, Hawaii, Tennessee and other states also have held 
meth summits in recent years. "One of the best things" that comes out of 
them, Strange said, is eventual legislation that fills in gaps in the 
struggle to stop the manufacture of the drug.

Tougher punishments

In 2003, Perdue signed into law tougher punishments for people who make and 
sell meth. It's a felony in Georgia to possess more than 300 
over-the-counter cold pills needed to make the drug. It's also a felony to 
possess any amount of anhydrous ammonia, a common fertilizer, with the 
intent of making meth.

This past spring, the governor signed a law allowing prosecutors to hold 
parents and caregivers criminally accountable for reckless child 
endangerment in meth-related cases. The law creates a separate felony for 
making meth in the presence of a child.

Janet Oliva, director of the state's Division of Family and Children 
Services, said she'll use the summit to spread the word about dangers to 
children who live in homes where meth is made.

"There's an immediate risk to everyone in that home, specifically to our 
children, of fire and explosion," she said. Children also can suffer 
long-term health problems from exposure to a meth lab's chemicals and 
fumes. "We do know there can be damage to the liver, to the kidneys, to the 
spleen."

Vaughn, the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse president, said the summit 
also will focus on treatment and prevention. "The more people understand 
the harm factors in drugs, the less likely they are to use them," she said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D