Senator, local court officials and area law enforcement officers discuss Combat Meth Act

U.S. Sen. Jim Talent met with judges, prosecutors and representatives of law enforcement from Vernon, St. Clair and Cedar counties Wednesday, in the city council chambers, inside Nevada's public safety building at Ash and Austin. Above, Talent listens to the concerns of Cedar County officials, along with 28th Circuit Court Presiding Judge James Bickel, Judge Jerry McBeth, and the St. Clair County Sheriff. Talent was in town to discuss a bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate aimed at stemming the production and use of methamphetamine throughout the nation. Talent noted that methamphetamine is a difficult problem both in urban and rural areas. If approved, the bill would provide funding for enforcement as well as facilitating treatment for addicts -- an aspect of the plan that appeared to pique the interest of several of those attending, especially with respect to diversionary programs such as the Vernon County Drug Court.

Senator Jim Talent met with local judges, prosecutors and law enforcement to discuss a Senate bill Talent co-sponsored with California Senator Diane Feinstein and 10 other senators to deal with the illegal production, distribution and use of methamphetamine.

Known as the Combat Meth Act, the bill would place certain over-the-counter medicines containing psuedo-ephedrine behind the pharmacy counter and limit the sale of it to any individual at 7.5 grams per month and would require signatures and identification for purchases. In this way, the federal bill would be similar to meth legislation that recently went into effect in Missouri.

The bill also would create a national meth treatment center to research effective treatments for abusers or addicts, and would authorize funding for enforcement, meth treatment, services to help children who have been affected by meth and for "precursor monitoring grants." Talent wants to set up a database that would enable tracking of sales of things like cold medicines should people travel from state to state.

"I've been traveling Missouri for two years about this subject and trying to see what the government can do to help you control this," Talent said. "That's how the bill came about. I'm doing that in conjunction with Congressman Blunt and Senator Feinstein."

Talent said meth use is a growing problem and a unique one. "The unique thing about meth is that it is made in the neighborhoods where it is used and the process (of manufacturing the drug) is so toxic," Talent said. "It affects the community in ways that other drugs do not."

Vernon County Prosecuting Attorney Lynn Ewing III said that in his experience with meth users he's noticed several things.

"From what I've seen the problem isn't just with selling or possession," Ewing said. "There are thefts, meth labs and their by-products, assaults connected to meth use and child neglect. In the Vernon County Drug Court 80 percent of the cases are related to meth use."

Ewing said that the meth problem has exploded onto the scene in Vernon County during the last decade.

"When I started in the late '90s, meth wasn't that big an issue," Ewing said. "Now, I'd say seven out of 10 cases I deal with have something to do with meth."

Frank Lambert, officer in charge of the drug task force, said that in addition to efforts to reduce production and trafficking, efforts to treat meth users for other problems had to be part of the solution.

"A lot of the time there are underlying mental problems that the meth use masks," Lambert said. "Before you can be successful doing anything about the meth use, something has to be done to treat the mental problems or you're not going to get results."

Talent agreed and said treatment was one of a number of actions that needed to be done in concert. "Fighting meth requires a comprehensive approach designed to assist states, local law enforcement and prosecutors to crack down on cooks and traffickers of meth while enhancing community education and awareness and treatment options for those addicted to this dangerous drug," Talent said.

Drug courts came in for favorable comments from several of the participants and Talent said that cooperation was the backbone of successful implementation. "There are a half a dozen places in Missouri I have been to that have drug courts and are very pleased with them. That's because the prosecutors, judges and law enforcement work together," Talent said.

Talent also proposed making it possible for local prosecutors to bring cases in federal court. "The bill provides $10 million to train state and local prosecutors in federal meth laws and cross-designate them as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys, allowing them to bring legal action against cooks and traffickers in federal courts under tougher guidelines," Talent said.

Several of the participants mentioned that the local drug task force is an invaluable resource for rural counties and police departments.

"When you have several officers dealing with a meth lab for five or six hours it leaves your streets without patrols," Nevada Police Chief Christine Keim said. "When the drug task force can get there in an hour to hour and a half and you only have to have one officer deal with it that frees up other officers to do other things."

Keim also noted the task force helps departments communicate.

"The task force opens up a line of communication for the different departments," Keim said. "There are times when you find things in an investigation that are linked to someone two or three counties over. You can't spare an officer to follow up, but that can be turned over to the task force to deal with. It also helps uncover related crimes, because of an investigation into a meth lab the task force discovered $80,000 in stolen farm equipment."

Several of the local law enforcement officials said they don't believe the bill, if passed, will stop meth trafficking in this area -- but they're encouraged by the success a similar restriction of psuedoephedrine had in Oklahoma. It has curbed would-be manufacturers' ability to make meth, said Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman, and that will probably happen in Missouri as well. But meth users, he speculates, would simply look to other sources of methamphetamine, which traffickers would likely transport to the area from Mexico or some other location -- or find other sources of psuedoephedrine or ephedrine.

Officers have even heard of people trying to extract ephedrine from chicken feed and other animal feed -- but so far, no one's been successful, to their knowledge, so that didn't seem to raise concern at this time among law enforcement officers.

Still, Talent agreed that drug traffickers could turn to importing the drug, but noted that if that happened, then law enforcement would be facing a more traditional battle against the drug.

Officers and court officials offered several suggestions and told of the communities' specific needs and concerns about funding and certain meth-fighting logistics, and in the end, Talent said he felt the meeting had been one of the most productive he's had in talking this over in Missouri.