Pot times
Compromise With A Child Abuser?
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1101/a06.htmlNewshawk: chip
Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 COMPROMISE WITH A CHILD ABUSER?
Source: Star-News (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Wilmington Morning Star
Contact:
letters@wilmingtonstar.com
Website: http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm
(Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm
(Youth)
As the N.C. House wrings its hands about whether to make it a bit harder
to produce a vicious addictive drug, children are being endangered, neglected,
abused and sent to foster homes. Families are being destroyed. Lives
are being ruined.
And North Carolina taxpayers will get most of the resulting bills -- for child
care, medical care, law enforcement, courts, prisons and the clean up of toxic
chemicals spilled by those who make methamphetamine in kitchens, sheds and
hideouts.
Yet House Honorables haven't been able to bring themselves to upset small
retailers who might lose a few dollars on the sale of pseudoephedrine pills (
one brand name is Sudafed ), which can be used to make meth.
It isn't as if people suffering from colds and allergies have no alternatives.
The shelves are crowded with them. In any case, the anti-meth bill passed
by the N.C. Senate would let stuffed-up folks buy limited quantities of
pseudoephedrine at pharmacies if they show identification.
Sheriffs, district attorneys and N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper support
the Senate bill. Retail lobbyists and some rural legislators - -- who
apparently fail to grasp the threat this drug poses to their constituents -- are
trying to weaken it.
As the dithering proceeds in Raleigh, The New York Times reports on the
heartbreaking effects of meth on children in states that have let the drug take
hold. The number of children sent to foster homes has increased sharply.
In many cases, they never go home, because their parents are so messed up.
A state official in Oregon told The Times, "In every way, shape and form, (
meth ) is the worst drug ever for child welfare."
At last count, 203 meth labs had been found in North Carolina this year.
We can only guess how many children have suffered birth defects, gone hungry,
been ignored or been abused.
The N.C. House apparently cares more about lobbyists and campaign
contributors.
