Department of Energy officials are further postponing cleanup work at an Oak Ridge National Laboratory facility on a project already 20 months behind schedule and $10 million over budget. The latest delay at the Molten Salt Reactor is because of suspected drug use and other personnel issues, The Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The cleanup project has been halted since a fluorine leak in May. "It's one of the harder decisions I've had to make," said Steve McCracken, who heads the environmental management program in Oak Ridge. "This thing is costing me money, and I can't seem to get it done. I need to get it done. I would very much like to get it done." [continues 226 words]
To the Editor: Highland View has a terrible drug enforcement problem. The city seems unable to deal with it effectively. We citizens have done all we know to do. All the responsible government authorities seem inclined to cast blame upon each other. All public meetings have been apparently sincere, but to no avail. Why isn't more than just "lip service" given to the problem? Why is the buck always passed on upstairs? On two occasions I know of, our district attorney at least made suggestions to Oak Ridge City officials, but it was like a tree falling in the woods with no one around to hear. Those suggestions have been ignored by city officials and not even reported by the newspapers. I know, but only because I was there. Business as usual. [continues 528 words]
Nashville Red Cross Tennessee has made major progress over the past year in combating methamphetamine, according to state law enforcement officials. Through initiatives like the Meth-Free Tennessee Act, the Meth Offender Registry, and educational campaigns like the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference's Meth Destroys Campaign, Tennessee has seen a significant drop in meth lab seizures, and a general increase in awareness about the drug's dangers. Meth labs are highly toxic, extremely combustible, and are often found in homes, trailers or cars. The labs usually contain ingredients such as acid, lye, phosphorus, iodine, ammonia and other dangerous and even deadly chemicals. Meth labs pose an immediate threat to everyone in proximity of the site, particularly small children who can ingest poisons or be burned by chemicals spilled in the house. [continues 573 words]
Profoundly psychological EDITOR'S NOTE - "The Faces of Meth" is the final part of a three-part series that focuses on the growing problem of methamphetamines and the devastating effect that its use has on people's physical and mental health. A number of physicians and other healthcare professionals from Methodist Medical Center have contributed to this series of these articles. * "Fire," "ice," "crystal," "crank," "meth" - whatever we call it, methamphetamine is a highly addictive, illegal and deadly drug. It can be produced with relative ease using over-the-counter ingredients, and it gives users a more intense high or feeling of euphoria than they get with cocaine. People smoke, snort, inject or take meth orally. There have been reports of users placing it in food and chewing it, as well. The high may last six to eight hours, and the depression that follows is severe. [continues 751 words]
To The Oak Ridger: I'm writing about your thoughtful editorial: "Inconvenience a small price to pay to fight meth" (April 6, 2005). Keeping the ingredients of meth behind the counter of licensed pharmacies is certainly a much better solution than the previous non-solution of building more and bigger prisons. Oklahoma learned the hard way that the so-called "tough on drugs" policies don't work and they are very expensive. Largely because of their "tough on drugs" policies, Oklahoma became the fourth highest state for incarcerations. [continues 92 words]
As Tennessee cracks down on production of methamphetamine, some consumers are finding themselves a bit inconvenienced. Many common cold remedies were removed from the shelves of convenience stores or any other retail outlet that doesn't have a pharmacist on staff. Specifically, the stores can't sell any tablets that contain either ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. The ban went into effect 24 hours after the passage and signing of Gov. Phil Bredesen's anti-meth bill. Tablets containing either of those two ingredients can easily be cooked to make meth, a drug that is rapidly become one of Tennessee's biggest problems. [continues 145 words]
As early as July 2003, USA Today ran an article titled, "'Meth' moves east," warning that the highly addictive stimulant which concerned a few Western states for years "now is being made nationwide in clandestine labs that are creating environmental hazards and other problems in residential areas." The article went on to recount how methamphetamine first became popular as a recreational drug in California during the late-1980s. "Now," the 2003 article stated, "authorities are finding meth labs in new places: neighborhoods throughout the Midwest and the East, where labs packed with the toxic chemicals used to make the drug have been found in apartment buildings, duplexes and abandoned buses. In Tennessee, two siblings recently set up a lab in their grandmother's retirement-home apartment while she was in the hospital. [continues 424 words]
To The Oak Ridger: May I second the motion of The Jackson Sun and The Oak Ridger's March 3 editorial that a team effort is needed to fight the problems of meth production and addiction growth in Tennessee. I was a victim of theft as were my neighbors on West Outer Drive a few months ago, and the police knew the thieves were local drug addicts seeking pawnables to feed their habits. They had been recently arrested and were out on bail. [continues 179 words]
Gov. Phil Bredesen's comprehensive legislative package aimed at fighting the scourge of methamphetamine in Tennessee represents a major step forward and should easily win the support of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Lawmakers should move quickly to approve it so it can be signed into law. The problems presented by meth are undeniable. The drug is cheap, easy to make and highly addictive. In the last few years, it has spread like wildfire throughout Tennessee. Bredesen's package attempts to deal with the meth epidemic on a number of fronts. It would: [continues 204 words]
CHATTANOOGA - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's legislation aimed at controlling methamphetamine would put many cold and allergy products behind pharmacy counters, restrict amounts sold and require showing an ID to buy them. Bredesen released the legislation Thursday in advance of a Nashville ceremony to designate March as "Meth-Free Tennessee Month." Tennessee consistently ranks among the nation's leaders in government spending to clean up labs where the addictive stimulant is "cooked" using common ingredients such as cold tablets containing the decongestant pseudoephedrine. [continues 719 words]
Gov. Bredesen's task force on methamphetamine abuse did a very rare thing. It delivered on a straightforward, common sense strategy to quell the growing methamphetamine epidemic in Tennessee. Now, it's up to the legislature to craft those recommendations into effective legislation. And the clock is ticking. In its last report on the subject, the Department of Children's Services reported that in roughly a year's time, more than 750 children were placed in state custody as a result of methamphetamine incidents. [continues 194 words]
KNOXVILLE (AP) - A two-year federal study showed Tennessee had the lowest rates in the nation for alcohol abuse and marijuana use in 2002 and 2003. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study, determined by about 125,000 representative home interviews during the two years, showed about 6 percent of Tennesseans ages 12 and older had abused alcohol in the past year, and 7.4 percent had used marijuana during the same period. North Dakota had the highest alcohol abuse rate at 10.8 percent, while 16.6 percent of Alaskans had used marijuana. [continues 448 words]
Having a Drug Court in Anderson County would only duplicate what already exists, according to the local DA. District Attorney General James N. Ramsey said Drug Court is no different from the criminal process that already exists in Anderson County and that Anderson County does not use the resources it has. "There is no good reason to duplicate it," Ramsey said. "But the bottom line is resources. We don't use what we've got and we misapply some of those that we've got, and now we're trying to duplicate existing bureaucracies - the only thing new is another bureaucracy, which just means more scrambling around." [continues 526 words]
Another View: From The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarksville) Tennesseans will soon have access to over-the-counter cold pills that don't have the active ingredient used to make methamphetamine. Both the federal government and the state of Tennessee have looked into ways to keep pseudoephedrine, which is the main ingredient in many popular over-the-counter cold and allergy relief medicines, out of the hands of those who manufacture meth. Washington and Nashville have both considered following Oklahoma's example and requiring drugs with pseudoephedrine to be put behind pharmacy counters. [continues 154 words]
NASHVILLE - Despite a tight budget, some lawmakers say more should be spent on fighting prescription drug abuse and the methamphetamine epidemic. "Somebody's got their head in the sand," said Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee, which heard a budget report from Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz on Tuesday. Burchett said he was frustrated that many people were buying drugs legally through TennCare - the state's expanded Medicaid program - then selling them illegally on the street. [continues 336 words]
To The Oak Ridger: I'm writing about Robert Sharpe's thoughtful letter of Feb. 3, 2005: "'Meth' resources should be diverted to treatment." I'd like to add that if tough-on-drugs policies worked, the quixotic goal of a drug-free America would have been reached a long time ago. And if tolerant drug laws created more drug use, the Netherlands would have much higher drug usage rates than the United States. They do not. In fact, the Dutch use marijuana and other recreational drugs at much lower rates than Americans do. [continues 76 words]
To The Oak Ridger: How should Tennessee respond to the growing use of methamphetamine? Expanding the drug war is not necessarily the answer. During the crack epidemic of the 1980s, New York chose the zero tolerance approach, opting to arrest and prosecute as many users as possible. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was smoking crack and America's capital had the highest per capita murder rate in the country. Yet crack use declined in both cities simultaneously. The decline was not due to the infamous mandatory minimum sentencing laws that have put so many non-violent offenders behind bars. Simply put, the younger generation saw first hand what crack was doing to their older brothers and sisters and decided for themselves that crack was bad news. [continues 97 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 505 words]
Last year, the Tennessee General Assembly took a significant step forward in the battle against methamphetamine by toughening penalties to bring them in line with other illegal drugs. Now, it's time to take the next step. Lawmakers should pass legislation this session that would restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine-based products by placing them behind the counter and requiring that they be dispensed by a pharmacist. Under this new law, people wanting to buy pseudoephedrine would have to show ID and sign for them. [continues 160 words]
Editor's note: Lauren Christ is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School who is currently a student of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. She has researched and written this article as part of her course study concerning drug education A member of the Tennessee methamphetamine task force will talk to Oak Ridge High School teachers at a seminar held at Jefferson Middle School in December. Considering the area's meth problem, however, some teachers' concern for students has led them to take action beforehand. [continues 801 words]
