Pubdate: Tue, 05 Dec 2006
Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright: 2006 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact:  http://www.clarionledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Author: Alberto R. Gonzales, McClatchey-Tribune Information Services

CONTROLLING METH LABS A PRIORITY

It has become a familiar scene on the evening news across the 
country: Neighbors watch in stunned silence as police raid the house 
next door and the nice couple who for the most part kept to 
themselves is hauled away for running a methamphetamine lab in their basement.

How could this happen, the neighbors ask, in our neighborhood? Isn't 
this the kind of thing you only see . . . somewhere else?

Compared to marijuana, heroin or cocaine, methamphetamine, or "meth" 
as it is commonly known, is relatively new in the headlines. But this 
drug has had a tremendous and terrible impact in a short time.

Once thought to be a problem affecting primarily America's rural 
communities, we now know that no community, no matter how large or 
how small, is safe from the allure and the destruction caused by 
methamphetamine.

Users are drawn in by the drug's promise of euphoria. Its quick, 
feel- good results make it appealing to a teenager who may be feeling 
blue or to an exhausted stay-at-home mom.

We've seen the allure of a "high" with other drugs. But even more 
sinister in some ways than cocaine or heroine, continued 
methamphetamine use can interfere with the brain's ability to 
experience pleasure normally.

Users quickly learn that methamphetamine is far from glamorous. Their 
teeth rot, they can't sleep, they become emaciated from lack of 
appetite and their thinning flesh becomes scarred by deep, self- 
inflicted scratches as they seek to scratch imaginary bugs out from 
under their skin's surface.

But they are addicted, and they usually cannot stop without help.

You may ask, at this point, why we should care about the drug addict? 
They are their own victims - no one forced them to use an illegal 
drug, right? They deserve to suffer.

But while some consider drug abuse to be a victimless crime, meth 
does not just affect the user. It affects the children, it affects 
the community, and in a very real and lasting way it affects the environment.

The collateral damage of this drug is nothing short of horrifying. 
We've seen babies burned to death when meth-cooking parents 
accidentally set fire to the lab in their home. We've seen children 
exposed to hazardous chemicals and severely neglected by their meth- 
abusing parents.

And we've seen environmental damage caused by meth labs. The 
chemicals used in making the drug include lye, red phosphorus and 
hydriodic acid, and each pound of finished methamphetamine creates up 
to six pounds of hazardous waste. These toxins are often dumped onto 
the ground or into the water systems near the lab - making meth your problem.

Last March, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the 
Combat Methamphetamine Act, which gave us additional tools for 
targeting meth traffickers. This law provides a national standard for 
the retail sale of products containing the ingredients needed to make 
meth, like pseudoephedrine, and makes other important contributions 
to the war against drugs.

The most prominent change you may have seen is your local retailer 
moving some cold medicines behind the counter. It seems like a small 
step, but thanks to this and other initiatives - particularly at the 
state level - we have made tremendous progress in preventing the 
production of meth in small labs.

Now we're turning our focus to halting the manufacture and smuggling 
of meth from superlabs controlled by Mexican drug trafficking 
organizations operating in the United States and Mexico and to 
reducing demand in this country.

I've made clear to U.S. attorneys throughout America that meth 
continues to be a priority. But we cannot win our fight against 
methamphetamine with prosecutions alone. We also need to educate 
people about the dangers of the meth, so that they never start using 
it. Finally, we need to make sure meth abusers know that help is 
available, so they can get clean.

And so the president has declared Nov. 30 as National Methamphetamine 
Awareness Day, and events are taking place around the country to 
educate people about the dangers of this drug. The Justice Department 
is working with our partners at the federal, state and local level, 
in government and in the private and non-profit sectors, to increase 
understanding of this problem.

It is our firm belief that education efforts do indeed reduce demand. 
To put it simply, the more people know about meth, the less likely 
they are to use it. And we've created a model methamphetamine 
education presentation, called "Meth 101," that is available to 
everyone on a new Web site: www.usdoj.gov/methawareness.

Meth poses a tremendous challenge for law enforcement and all of 
society. We all share a responsibility to work together in this fight 
to ensure a safe, successful and drug-free future for our children 
and grandchildren. Progress toward that goal will be something very 
worthy of giving thanks for this holiday season.

Alberto R. Gonzales is the U.S. attorney general. Readers may write 
to him at: Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 
Washington, D.C. 20530 Web site: www.usdoj.gov.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine