Since Crackdown Here, 80 Percent Of American Users' Supply Comes From South, DEA Says CHATTANOOGA, TENN. -- Thanks to tougher U.S. laws, fewer people are cooking up batches of meth in dangerous homemade labs, but that doesn't mean the supply has dried up. Eighty percent or more of America's methamphetamine habit now comes from Mexico, law enforcement officials say. That means U.S. drug agents are changing how they fight this particular drug war -- looking to stop Mexican traffickers on interstate highways instead of raiding small-time meth labs in kitchens and backyard sheds. [continues 577 words]
CHATTANOOGA - A prosecutor says the state will appeal a judge's decision to dismiss methamphetamine charges against 30 people after ruling that prosecutors misinterpreted a 1-year-old Tennessee law. David McGovern, an assistant district attorney general for the 12th Judicial District, said the Aug. 3 ruling by Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Graham would be challenged. McGovern said the Tennessee attorney general's office was preparing the notice of appeal. The 2005 law restricts purchases of cold and allergy tablets that contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making the addictive stimulant, as well as other common products such as coffee filters or matches if they are knowingly purchased to make methamphetamine. [continues 303 words]
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A prosecutor says the state will appeal a judge's decision to dismiss methamphetamine charges against 30 people after ruling that prosecutors misinterpreted a 1-year-old Tennessee law. David McGovern, an assistant district attorney general for the 12th Judicial District, said the Aug. 3 ruling by Circuit Judge Thomas W. Graham would be challenged. McGovern said the Tennessee attorney general's office was preparing the notice of appeal. The 2005 law restricts purchases of cold and allergy tablets that contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making the addictive stimulant, as well as other common products such as coffee filters or matches if they are knowingly purchased to make methamphetamine. [continues 303 words]
Selling Iodine To Make Meth Yields Jail Time CHATTANOOGA -- A garden center owner convicted of selling iodine used to make methamphetamine in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison by a judge who said he hopes the penalty shows such harmful greed has a high price. Joseph Swafford, 62, was escorted from the courtroom after declining to comment at his Friday sentencing, which also included forfeiting his family business, Broadway Home and Garden Center in Chattanooga, to the government. [continues 456 words]
CHATTANOOGA -- A garden center owner convicted of selling iodine used to make methamphetamine in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a judge who said he hopes the penalty shows such harmful greed has a high price. Joseph Swafford was escorted from the courtroom after declining to comment at his Friday sentencing, which also included forfeiting his family business, Broadway Home and Garden Center, to the government. Swafford's attorney had asked U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier for a 10-year sentence. [continues 173 words]
State Removing Fewer Children From Homes Following Restrictions CHATTANOOGA - With Tennessee restricting sales of medications that can be used to make methamphetamine, records show the number of children taken from parents caught making or using the illegal drug is down drastically, possibly by more than half. The state Department of Children's Services provided records to The Associated Press showing that meth investigations forced the state to take custody of at least 268 children in 2005. That's down from a department estimate of 750 children taken from their parents because of meth in 2004. [continues 554 words]
With Tennessee restricting sales of medications that can be used to make methamphetamine, records show that the number of children taken from parents caught making or using the illegal drug is down drastically, possibly by more than half. The state Department of Children's Services provided records to The Associated Press showing that meth investigations forced the state to take custody of at least 268 children in 2005. That's down from a department estimate of 750 children taken from their parents because of meth in 2004. [continues 551 words]
CHATTANOOGA -- With Tennessee restricting sales of medications that can be used to make methamphetamine, records show the number of children taken from parents caught making or using the illegal drug is down drastically, possibly by more than half. The state Department of Children's Services provided records to The Associated Press showing that meth investigations forced the state to take custody of at least 268 children in 2005. That's down from a department estimate of 750 children taken from their parents because of meth in 2004. [continues 563 words]
CHATTANOOGA - Methamphetamine lab busts in Tennessee dropped 39 percent from a year ago after the state put cold tablets used to make the addictive stimulant behind pharmacy counters, records show. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration records released to Gov. Phil Bredesen showed 82 labs seized in May following passage of his Meth-Free Tennessee Act, compared to 134 in May 2004. [end]
CHATTANOOGA - A pioneer in East Tennessee's decade-long fight against addictive methamphetamine is moving to a Justice Department job that puts him on the front lines with international drug smugglers. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Laymon of Chattanooga, who has prosecuted methamphetamine traffickers and people caught cooking the illegal stimulant, is joining the department's narcotics and dangerous drugs section in Washington. Laymon, 50, said the job he is starting June 11 could allow him to take aim at China and India, where the ephedra plant used to make ephedrine, an ingredient in some methamphetamine recipes, is grown. [continues 457 words]
Governor Given Credit For Taking Hard Line On State's Drug Problem NASHVILLE - A top federal drug official Tuesday toured a regional burn center where a third of the patients were injured by fires and explosions in clandestine methamphetamine labs. Doctors say such cases are showing up every day and driving up the medical costs for everyone. The costs of treating critically injured burn victims typically exceed $10,000 a day, and most meth patients don't have health insurance. =09 "As bad as this may sound, as a burn doctor I almost wish another drug, one less volatile that doesn't regularly explode during the manufacturing process, would come down the pike to overtake the popularity of meth," said Dr. Jeff Guy, director of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center regional burn center. [continues 367 words]
ATHENS, Tenn. - Prosecutors and police officers say the biggest contributing factor to repeat meth offenders is their right to get out of jail on bond while awaiting trial. Addicts who are caught making methamphetamine in homemade labs get arrested repeatedly, in some cases three or more times, while they are free on bond. Tom Farmer, a Hamilton County officer who works with a regional meth task force, said some addicts are still high when they are released from jail and they return to "using and cooking dope." [continues 470 words]
CHATTANOOGA - Gov. Phil Bredesen will ask lawmakers to remove the key ingredient in methamphetamine from store shelves by putting Sudafed and some other cold and allergy pills behind pharmacy counters. Although not yet finished, the package of bills will restrict pseudoephedrine products, which are commonly used to make the addictive stimulant, said Bredesen aide Will Pinkston. "The question is, how many?" Pinkston said. "That is the part that we are going to be working on down to the wire. We are poring over a lot of scientific research before making that decision." [continues 365 words]
Sudafed's Timing Draws Fire Chattanooga --- Tennessee officials are asking why it took so long for Pfizer Inc. to release an alternative decongestant without the ingredient used to make methamphetamine. Pseudoephedrine, an active ingredient in Pfizer's Sudafed and Actifed, Schering Plough's Claritin-D and other remedies, can also be used to make methamphetamine in homemade labs. Pfizer's alternative decongestant, Sudafed PE, contains phenylephrine, which can't be converted into meth. It has been in some Pfizer products sold in Europe since 2003, said company spokeswoman Erica Johnson. [continues 554 words]
Tennessee officials are asking why it took so long for Pfizer Inc. to release an alternative decongestant that doesn't contain the ingredient used to make the much-abused drug methamphetamine. Pseudoephedrine is an active ingredient in Pfizer's Sudafed and Actifed, Schering Plough's Claritin-D and other remedies, but it also can be used to make methamphetamine in homemade labs. Pfizer's alternative decongestant, Sudafed PE, contains phenylephrine, which cannot be converted into meth. It has been in some Pfizer products sold in Europe since 2003, said company spokeswoman Erica Johnson. [continues 735 words]
CHATTANOOGA - Tennessee officials are asking why it took so long for Pfizer Inc. to release an alternative decongestant without the ingredient used to make meth. Pseudoephedrine is an active ingredient in Pfizer's Sudafed and Actifed, Schering Plough's Claritin-D and other remedies, but it can also be used to make methamphetamine in homemade labs. Pfizer's alternative decongestant, Sudafed PE, contains phenylephrine, which can't be converted into meth. It's been in some Pfizer products sold in Europe since 2003, said company spokeswoman Erica Johnson. [continues 730 words]
Officials Battle Market for Methamphetamine by Focusing on Misery CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - At a recent task force meeting on the epidemic of methamphetamine use in Appalachia, Gov. Phil Bredesen winced when a federal prosecutor described the illegal drug as an aphrodisiac. Doctors and government officials don't like to talk much about it, but there is an obvious reason people get hooked on methamphetamine: sex. Meth boosts sexual appetite and performance more powerfully than drugs such as cocaine before it eventually destroys the sex drive entirely, doctors say. "Who wouldn't want to use it? You lose weight and you have great sex," Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Laymon said sarcastically at the meeting of the Tennessee task force. Government officials want to focus on the misery meth causes. [continues 271 words]
CHATTANOOGA - Doctors and government officials don't like to talk much about it, but there's an obvious reason people get hooked on methamphetamine: sex. The drug eventually destroys the sex drive, but doctors say for a short while meth can boost sexual appetite and performance - in a way that's much stronger than stimulants such as cocaine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Laymon said he has interviewed hundreds of meth users, and a startling number - men and women - say the drug enhances sexual performance and desire. [continues 703 words]
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Doctors and government officials don't like to talk much about it, but there's an obvious reason people get hooked on methamphetamine: sex. The drug eventually destroys the sex drive, but doctors say for a short while meth can boost sexual appetite and performance -- in a way that's much stronger than stimulants such as cocaine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Laymon said he has interviewed hundreds of meth users, and a startling number -- men and women -- say the drug enhances sexual performance and desire. [continues 362 words]
CHATTANOOGA - Any talk of a federal crackdown on methamphetamine sounds good to Tennessee officials, even if President Bush's drug czar and Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards have differing strategies. "We are looking for any help," said Tom Farmer, a Hamilton County deputy and member of the South/East Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force. Edwards cited an increase in methamphetamine labs nationally and accused the Republican administration of trying to cut law enforcement funding as he pledged to support federal quantity limits on purchases of cold remedies used to make the addictive stimulant. [continues 416 words]
