Pubdate: Sat, 18 Feb 2006
Source: Daily Home, The (Talladega,  AL)
Copyright: 2006 Consolidated Publishing
Contact:  http://www.dailyhome.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1632
Note:  also listed as contact
Author: Daniel Thompson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DAS SUPPORT BILL THAT WOULD MAKE IT A FELONY TO HAVE CHILDREN PRESENT 
IN DRUG HOUSE

District attorneys in Talladega and St. Clair counties are keeping 
their eyes on a bill making its way though the Legislature this 
session that would make it a felony to have children present in a 
drug house. Last week the Endangered Children Protection Bill passed 
through the House of Representatives and will now go before the 
Senate. If the Senate approves the bill without making changes, it 
will go on to Gov. Bob Riley for final approval.

The bill was brought to the Legislature as part of Attorney General 
Troy King's crime package.

King said the bill makes it a class C felony to have children present 
in a drug house, a class B felony if the child is injured as a result 
of being in the drug house and a class A felony if a child is killed 
as a result of being in the drug house.

"These are children who are trapped by their parents or guardians," 
King said. "They are crying out for help and no one can hear their cries.

"They are being held hostage," he said. "They are being hurt and 
abused by the people who are supposed to be these children's greatest 
defenders. When that happens there ought to be stiff, serious 
punishments for those parents and guardians."

A similar bill was presented to the Legislature last year by King, 
which passed through the House but failed to make it through the 
Senate after a filibuster over the state budget halted the session. 
Last year's bill made it a felony only if children were present in a 
house manufacturing crystal methamphetamine, but King said the latest 
version encompasses all drug houses.

"I wish the bill would have gone through last year," King said. "But, 
I think it's a stronger, more comprehensive law this time around.

"Are children in a crack house any less in danger than children in a 
meth house," he said. "I don't believe so. I think it's important we 
look at every child who is exposed to the dangers of drugs."

District attorneys in Talladega and St. Clair counties said they 
support the bill, especially with the increasing problems associated 
with crystal methamphetamine.

"I think this bill is a great thing," Talladega County District 
Attorney Steve Giddens said. "It breaks your heart as a prosecutor to 
see a child harmed, whether it's drugs or physical abuse."

Not every crystal meth lab has children present, but Giddens said it 
is dangerous every time children are exposed to those environments.

"It's not something our officers see every time they go into a meth 
house but we do see it," he said. "It's one thing for someone to 
expose themselves to that stuff, but exposing a child who doesn't 
have a choice is something very different. It's terrible."

Giddens said the process used to manufacture a drug like crystal 
meth, produces highly toxic byproducts that are harmful to be around.

"When our officers go to a place where meth is being manufactured 
they have to call in HAZMAT teams," he said. "HAZMAT has to send 
someone in, in a special suit to deal with the fumes and chemicals as 
safely as possible.

"Breathing those fumes can burn your lungs and they can kill you," he 
said. "These people making the drug may have a baby lying in a crib 
in that same environment."

St. Clair County District Attorney Richard Minor said if the bill is 
passed it would give prosecutors another tool to combat crime.

Under current state laws, people who are caught manufacturing drugs 
in the same home as children can be charged with child abuse by 
willfully neglecting the child, but child abuse is not always an 
appropriate charge because of the wording in the law, Minor said.

"It doesn't always fit," Minor said. "Making this a felony offense 
will add an additional charge to those individuals who would have 
children in those environments.

"It will allow us the opportunity to protect children and charge 
those individuals who could harm children where as before there may 
not have been a criminal charge for having the children present," he said.

Minor said the number local crystal methamphetamine manufacturing 
cases in St. Clair County have dropped after a law was passed last 
year by the Legislature requiring drug stores to keep pseudo 
ephedrine, an over-the-counter decongestant and the primary 
ingredient in crystal meth, behind the counter. However, Minor said 
it is still a serious problem whenever children are exposed to 
dangerous environments caused by drugs.

"It's a problem any time a child is in a house where someone is 
manufacturing methamphetamine," he said. "Not only are the fumes 
dangerous to breathe, it's not safe to be around the manufacturing 
process at all.

"If someone decides to light a cigarette the whole place will blow 
up," Minor said. "The chemicals used and the byproducts are extremely 
unstable."

King said while he is hopeful the new law will be approved and make a 
difference in the war on drugs, the need for the legislation is sad.

"It's disturbing there is a need for this and there are parents who 
would do this to their children," King said. "However, the positive 
side is finally the children of Alabama are not crying out in vain. 
Something is being done about it. It's good we're finally putting 
tough laws in place that hear their cries and answer them."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman