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    Meth

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    Methamphetamine (meth) is the fastest growing drug threat in America. It is inexpensive to produce using common household chemicals and highly addictive. States have responded by regulating precursor chemicals, funding cleanup of toxic labs, and increasing penalties for production and sale. There are also federal funds available to combat meth through enforcement and community policing programs.

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    Meth

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    230 views2 pages
    Methamphetamine (meth) is the fastest growing drug threat in America. It is inexpensive to produce using common household chemicals and highly addictive. States have responded by regulating precursor chemicals, funding cleanup of toxic labs, and increasing penalties for production and sale. There are also federal funds available to combat meth through enforcement and community policing programs.

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    Methamphetamine (meth) is the fastest growing drug threat in America. It is inexpensive to produce using common household chemicals and highly addictive. States have responded by regulating precursor chemicals, funding cleanup of toxic labs, and increasing penalties for production and sale. There are also federal funds available to combat meth through enforcement and community policing programs.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    230 views2 pages

    Meth

    Uploaded by

    losangeles
    Methamphetamine (meth) is the fastest growing drug threat in America. It is inexpensive to produce using common household chemicals and highly addictive. States have responded by regulating precursor chemicals, funding cleanup of toxic labs, and increasing penalties for production and sale. There are also federal funds available to combat meth through enforcement and community policing programs.

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    of 2

    National Conference of State Legislatures

    LEGISBRIEF
    BRIEFING PAPERS ON THE I M P O R TA N T I S S U E S OF THE D AY
    J A N U A R Y 2004 V O L . 12, N O . 1
    The Methamphetamine Menace
    By Devonne R. Sanchez and Blake Harrison

    Methamphet- Methamphetamine, a.k.a. speed, crank or meth, is the fastest growing drug threat in America.
    amine is the fastest It is inexpensive, easily made from readily obtainable chemicals and has a longer lasting effect
    growing drug than cocaine. Methamphetamine is highly addictive and can cause violent and psychotic
    threat. behavior, according to the White House Office of Drug Control Policy. Side effects include
    convulsions, dangerously high body temperature, cardiac arrhythmia and stroke.

    State Action
    Meth is manufac- Precursors. Methamphetamine is manufactured using common household ingredients (pre-
    tured using cursor chemicals). Producers usually use cold medicines as the main component. Other items
    common household used to “cook” meth include chemicals derived from drain cleaners, lithium batteries, lantern
    ingredients. fuel and starter fluid. Because the materials used to manufacture the drug are readily available,
    states have taken measures to regulate and criminalize these precursor substances. Last year,
    Indiana established an education program to help retailers recognize who may be purchasing
    chemicals for the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine. The statute provides civil immu-
    nity for retailers who make a good faith effort to report such sales. Oklahoma requires manu-
    facturers and wholesale distributors to keep, for three years, records of who purchases precursor
    substances. Many states have criminalized the possession of precursor chemicals or equipment
    if intent to manufacture the drug can be established. For example, North Dakota considers
    possession of more than 24 grams of a methamphetamine precursor as intent to violate the
    state’s controlled substance manufacturing laws.

    For every pound Cleanup. Manufacturing meth creates hazardous waste and poses significant health and
    of meth produced, environmental hazards. Small-scale, clandestine labs are typically located on residential proper-
    about six pounds ties or in mobile units. For every pound of methamphetamine produced, about six pounds of
    of toxic waste are toxic waste are left behind. After law enforcement officials seize a lab, the average cost of
    left behind.
    cleanup is about $5,000, but it can climb to as much as $150,000 for large-scale labs.

    Three states make Oregon and Washington have had comprehensive drug cleanup laws for more than 10 years.
    it a felony to The laws require a coordinated, cooperative effort among government agencies to manage the
    illegally dispose of cleanup and requires owners to make sure residue levels are sufficiently low. Even if the prop-
    meth waste. erty is properly cleaned, laws in at least four states specifically require real estate agents to
    disclose if the property was the site of a meth lab. Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky,
    Ohio and Oklahoma make the offender liable for cleanup costs. Michigan, Missouri and
    Wisconsin make it a felony to illegally dispose of methamphetamine waste.

    Protecting Children. Methamphetamine is highly explosive during the manufacturing pro-


    cess. Exposure to the drug and the toxic substances used to make it also pose serious health
    risks to children. Parental addiction can be devastating for children. Ten percent of users Arkansas and
    indicated that they were introduced to meth by their parents or other family members. A Washington
    growing number of states have enacted legislation to address these problems. Alaska, Arizona, established a
    Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Utah and Washington have expanded separate criminal
    offense for exposing
    their child abuse or endangerment statutes to include manufacturing a controlled substance in
    a child to an
    the presence of a child. Arkansas and Washington established a separate criminal offense for illicit chemical
    exposing a child to an illicit chemical substance. California made grant funds available to substance.
    counties to establish multiagency drug-endangered child response teams.

    Sentencing. State sentencing legislation has focused on increasing penalties for the sale and States have focused
    manufacture of meth. Illinois eliminated probation in 2003 for repeat offenders caught with on increasing
    materials used to make the drug. The measure was enacted in part because methamphetamine penalties for the
    dealers were coming to Illinois because it had less strict laws than bordering states. Some states sale and manufac-
    have provided alternatives to incarceration or emphasize treatment for those who only use the ture of meth.
    drug. Colorado reduced the penalty for use or possession of one gram or less of Schedule I and
    II controlled substances in order to provide more resources for treatment. Iowa gives courts
    discretion to impose community-based treatment under a drug court program for first offend-
    ers, but provides that mandatory minimum sentences apply to subsequent offenses.

    Federal Action
    The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has There are federal
    dedicated $223.5 million since 1995 to combat methamphetamine. These funds go directly funds available
    to state and local law enforcement agencies for community policing activities that address to combat meth.
    methamphetamine. In 2002, $70 million was allocated for enforcement. To support a variety
    of enforcement, intervention and prevention efforts, $57 million has been allocated for FY
    2003. In collaboration with the Drug Enforcement Agency, many of the grants will provide
    training on the proper collection, removal and destruction of clandestine methamphetamine labs.

    Under a COPS grant in Salt Lake City, Utah, law enforcement officials developed a collabora-
    tive effort that includes 30 government agencies working together to combat the use and
    production of meth. The Drug Endangered Children program was also created to address the
    growing number of children exposed to meth, by combining the resources of law enforcement,
    the judicial system and social services.

    Selected References
    Andrews University, The MayaTech Corporation and RAND. Illicit Drug Policies: Selected Laws
    from the 50 States. Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews University, February 2002.
    www.andrews.edu/BHSC/ImpacTeen-IllicitDrugTeam
    Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy. Methamphetamine.
    Washington, D.C., May 1999. http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/metham-
    phetamine/index.html
    Herz, Denise C. Drugs in the Heartland: Methamphetamine Use in Rural Nebraska. The Na-
    tional Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, April 2000.
    http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/180986.pdf

    Contacts for More Information


    Blake Harrison U.S. Department of Justice Dr. Henry Brownstein
    NCSL—Denver Response Center National Institute of Justice
    (303) 364-7700 ext. 1424 Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.
    [email protected] (800) 421-6770 (202) 305-8705
    www.cops.usdoj.gov [email protected]

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