Pubdate: Mon, 26 Dec 2005
Source: Desert Sun, The (CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Desert Sun
Contact:  http://www.thedesertsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
Author: Martin C. Brhel, Jr., retired prosecutor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

EFFECTIVE DRUG CRACKDOWN REQUIRES TOUGHER LAWS

Methamphetamine - aka meth, speed, go-fast - is a  chemical from hell
that must be culled from American  society before it kills our nation.

Illegal drugs in general, such as heroin, cocaine and  meth, have
taken America to a place it never intended  to visit.

When I joined the Riverside County district attorney's  office in
1987, I recall my then-boss, Supervising  Deputy District Attorney
Dave Downing, noting "the  Coachella Valley would be a quiet place
without dope or  alcohol."

What he was referring to was the criminal justice  system. As I
quickly learned, most of the cases we  handled were related in some
fashion to the usage or  abuse of illegal drugs, alcohol or both.

This included possession of illegal drugs for personal  use,
possession of them for sale, sale of those drugs,  their
transportation, or doing other illegal acts under  the individual or
combined influence of alcohol or  drugs.

When I was deputy-in-charge of the Major Narcotic  Violator Program
for the county's eastern division, my  job was to prosecute those who
illegally profited from  the sale, transportation, cultivation or
manufacturing  of any of the major drugs the California Health and
Safety Code prohibits.

During that tour of duty, I learned the California  Legislature either
doesn't understand or care about  marijuana and methamphetamine.

Legal ambiguities As to marijuana, our state lawmakers  have a split
personality.

They continue to declare marijuana dangerous enough to  mandate peace
officers stand in harm's way through an  annual eradication program
choreographed by the state  Department of Justice, as well as ongoing
search-warrant service.

Yet Sacramento refuses to add any of the enhancements  that allow
prosecutors to bolster possible prison  sentences that pertain to
meth, coke or heroin. It's  time to fish or cut bait. We must stop
putting the  lives of dope cops in danger for a drug that rarely
equates to a prison sentence.

Even worse is the lack of will vis-a-vis  methamphetamine. If our
Legislature really cares about  our winning the war on drugs, why does
possessing meth  for sale carry a possible prison sentence that is the
 same as the one for possessing it for personal use?

When I headed the Major Narcotic Violator Program, I  prosecuted meth
cases that still make my hair stand on  end. They included both
dealers and manufacturers that  possessed illegal weapons such as
Thompson machine guns  and grenade launchers.

One case required me to have a member of the sheriff's  bomb squad
tell the jury exactly what the dangerous  item was the defendant had
in his garage.

So much methamphetamine was being cooked in one of the  cases I
prosecuted that the 8- and 10-year-old sons of  the defendant's
girlfriend were both able to tell the  narcotic officers how to cook
meth.

In another case, when knock-notice was announced at the  front door, a
paranoid defendant jumped through his  bedroom window into his dog
feces-filled back yard.

Good thing. One of the cops found the man's shorts on  his bed. They
had his driver's license in one pocket  and a loaded handgun in the
other.

Road to hell Chronic meth abuse eventually ends up  messing up the
wiring in the user's head to the point  where the person never comes
back to where they are  supposed to be.

Addicts commit a shopping list of crimes to get the  money to get
their dope. This includes "three strikes"  offenses such as robbery
and burglary. Addicts also  engage in shop-lifting, check fraud,
credit card fraud,  identity theft, prostitution, auto theft and dope
selling, smuggling and manufacturing.

Frighteningly, if one tries to cook meth but doesn't  know what he's
doing, this can lead to explosions,  fires and the production of
mustard gas so lethal that  you'll be dead before you can smell it. If
your  next-door neighbor creates a stovetop lab, guess who  may also
die when it goes up in flames?

Does speed kill? You better believe it. Does the  Legislature get it?
I don't know. Let's ask them.

- - Reach Martin C. Brhel, Jr., a La Quinta resident and  retired prosecutor
who is trust administrator for the  Riverside Sheriffs' Association Legal
Defense Trust.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin