Pubdate: Fri, 18 Nov 2005
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2005 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Steve Hartsoe, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

METH LAB BUSTS LEVEL OFF, BUT DANGERS STILL GROWING

Drug Also Arriving From Out of State, and More Children Being Exposed

CULLOWHEE - Methamphetamine continues to ravage communities and destroy
families even though the number of labs discovered in North Carolina
has stabilized, said experts who gathered Wednesday to examine the
state's struggle with the highly addictive drug.

Tougher laws, restrictions on the household products used as
ingredients for the drug and a growing number of law officers
dedicated to fighting the drug have combined to stunt the growth of
labs. Still, meth continues to enter the state from Mexico and other
channels, experts said.

"When you've got a community of addicts, they're gonna get the drug
somehow," Rutherford County Chief Deputy Phil Byers told the estimated
600 people who attended a forum at Western Carolina University.

Rutherford County will use a $250,000 grant next year to start an
interdiction program to combat the shipment of meth into the region,
Byers said. A federal, state and local law enforcement task force is
forming to further crack down on shipments into the state, Attorney
General Roy Cooper said.

Nine meth labs were found in North Carolina in 1999. The number
increased to 322 last year and authorities say they expect the number
to hold steady this year.

But more children are being found in homes where meth is used or made
in highly toxic labs, exposing them to dangerous and poorly stored
chemicals that social workers and medical professionals say can cause
emotional and neurological disabilities. Children have been present at
about one-fourth of all lab busts, Cooper said.

"We have to destroy their clothes or their toys," he
said.

And the counties also have to take in the children, experts said. Some
mountain counties report that a quarter to a third of their foster
children come from homes influenced by methamphetamine, and social
workers say more needs to be done to get them out of those homes quickly.

They also want more treatment options for meth addicts, including
those who are incarcerated.

"I don't think we've done enough in that area," Cooper
said.

Cooper did help push a new law through the legislature that will make
it harder for meth cookers to buy cold medicines used to make the drug.

The law, which takes effect in January, will require buyers of cold
and allergy tablets and caplets containing ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine -- some with brand names such as Sudafed, Drixoral and
Claritin-D -- to be at least 18 years old, show identification and
sign a log at a pharmacy. No more than two packs can be purchased at
any one time and no more than three in a month.

Liquid or gel cap forms of the medicine, or those specifically for
children, will remain on retail store shelves because there have been
no reports of meth manufacturers in North Carolina using them to
create the drug. A state panel will monitor those medicines and could
restrict them later.

The new restrictions are modeled after similar laws in Oklahoma,
Tennessee and Iowa, where the number of busted labs fell dramatically
since they took effect. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake