Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jan 2005
Source: Bristol Herald Courier (VA)
Copyright: 2005 Bristol Herald Courier
Contact:  http://www.bristolnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1211
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

STRENGTHEN LAWS TO FIGHT METH CRISIS

They call them "meth orphans" -- the innocent children whose lives are 
disrupted and endangered by their parents' involvement with the fastest 
growing drug menace in the region.

James Chambers, 2, and Breanna Chambers, 11 months, could be the poster 
children for this disturbing trend. Their plight brings into sharp focus 
the need for a tough stance and new laws to battle methamphetamine in 
Virginia, Tennessee and the rest of the Southeast.

The Chambers children became familiar to us this weekend after an Amber 
Alert was issued for them. Their parents snatched them from a North 
Carolina foster home at gunpoint, police reported.

For days, no one knew where the children were and authorities feared the 
worst. Their father was on the run from the law; social workers took the 
children from their parents after a meth lab was found in their home.

Thankfully, police found the tots unharmed in a remote, mountainous part of 
Grayson County, Va., on Wednesday; their parents were arrested and charged 
with kidnapping. What the future holds for the Chambers children is unclear.

Certainly, they are no longer in immediate danger, but they were living in 
a home where baby bottles and toxic chemicals sat side-by-side in the 
kitchen sink. Methamphetamine is brewed from cold pills and a dangerous mix 
of common household products. The manufacturing process gives off volatile 
vapors which can destroy the lungs and even explode. Not a safe place for a 
child.

Parents who gamble with their children's lives by bringing the meth-making 
process into their home in a quest to make a quick buck or to get high 
don't deserve a second chance to put those children in danger. Their 
parental rights should be terminated. The Chambers children are still 
babies; they deserve a chance to grow up in a safe home with loving foster 
or adoptive parents who will protect them.

Meanwhile, Virginia lawmakers -- like their counterparts in other states -- 
are considering a variety of get-tough on meth measures this session. Of 
note, one bill would impose an additional 10 to 40 years in prison for 
those who allow methamphetamine to be made in the presence of children. 
That seems about right to us.

Other bills increase the penalties for other meth crimes, making almost any 
possession of the drug or precursor chemicals a felony. The granddaddy of 
them all calls for a sentence of 20 years to life for anyone caught making 
or distributing more than 100 grams of the illegal stimulant.

The most controversial measure calls for cold pills that contain 
pseudoephedrine to be locked up behind a pharmacy counter. That might be an 
overreaction, but methamphetamine is a growing danger that must be faced.

On the same day that the Chambers children were rescued, Washington County, 
Va., deputies took down their third methamphetamine lab of the year. Need 
we say more? 
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