KINGSPORT - Index card number four on Tennessee Agricultural Commissioner Ken Givens' list of topics to talk about Friday at an East Tennessee Environmental Conference was about a crime with environmental implications. The headline text at the top of the card said "Meth Problem." Givens told conference attendees during his luncheon keynote speech at the Eastman Lodge that methamphetamine manufacturing is having an adverse effect on the environment. "It impacts everybody here," Givens said of meth lab start-ups. "Meth creates environmental problems. When you make one pound of meth, you make several pounds of toxic waste that will end up in the environment somewhere. .. It may end up in carpet. It may end up in drywall." [continues 526 words]
BLOUNTVILLE - Protective measures for children should be in proposed legislation attacking methamphetamine manufacturing in Tennessee, Sullivan County lawmakers in the legislature were told Friday. Gov. Phil Bredesen's anti-meth lab bill initiative was among the top children's issues discussed by the leadership of the Children's Advocacy Center of Sullivan County (CAC) in a meeting with lawmakers. "As you look at that (meth lab) legislation, we ask that you always remember that probably in those households, there are going to be children who are impacted by the presence of that methamphetamine and the production of that," CAC Executive Director Kathy Fields told lawmakers. "It's not really considered child abuse. It is reckless endangerment." [continues 450 words]
Two Northeast Tennessee lawmakers don't think so and are trying to stop TennCare from paying for it. Legislation sponsored by state Rep. Jerome Cochran, R-Elizabethton, and state Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, would prohibit methadone treatment providers from being reimbursed by the state's $7 billion-plus expanded Medicaid program on an "as medically necessary" basis. Cochran said he got the idea for the bill after being told by a probation officer that methadone treatment for heroin addicts was reimbursed by TennCare. [continues 417 words]
BLOUNTVILLE - Positions on methamphetamine use, homeland security, concealed weapons, gay marriage and abortion were outlined statewide by Tennessee House Republicans in two components of their "New Vision for Tennessee" Thursday. One component titled "Safe Homes, Safe Neighborhoods and a Safe Tennessee" called for tougher penalties for manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine. "We will push for civil liability against drug dealers so that families and communities that are affected by the parasites who profit from drugs will be able to recover damages that results from their crimes," state Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, said in remarks distributed to reporters at the Sullivan County Health/Education Building. [continues 472 words]
