Group seeks tougher local meth laws
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One group, the Warren County chapter of Save our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM), has been working on a resolution to be presented to the Warren County Commission that would control and limit the sale of some of the key ingredients used in the manufacture of meth.
And now, considering the actions of the state, SOCM member Crickett Keener feels this resolution is even more important and may be the only way to enact any sort of legislation for the next year and a half. SOCM is currently working to encourage governments at the county level to initiate legislation with the hope this type of local regulation will spread across the state and provide some sort of deterrent, at least until the General Assembly sees fit to enact state laws.
The resolution SOCM is presenting to the county commission has three main points. It would limit the sale of ephedrine and pseudo-ephedrine products to packages, or any number of packages, that contain a combined total of 100 tablets. No more than 100 tablets could be sold at any one time.
It would require retailers to keep ephedrine products behind a counter or within six feet of a register. This would help limit the potential for theft.
The resolution would also require ID and written documentation of any person buying ephedrine products. This would allow local authorities to collect this information and track those individuals who purchase the products at several different locations to disguise the total amount purchased.
All of these regulations are designed to discourage the bulk purchase of a material, ephedrine and pseudo-ephedrine, that is essential to the manufacture of meth.
SOCM’s efforts have attracted some very effective local supporters, including recovering meth addict and cooker Melinda Ross, who says this resolution would go a long way in helping to cut back on the manufacture of meth in Warren County.
“I think it will deter people,” Ross said, noting the more counties that enact such regulations, the more effective it will be. “With the other counties doing it, it’s going to be harder for people to get it.”
Ross said the very nature of meth addiction will ironically aid in this deterrent.
“By the time they’re to the point where they’re cooking meth,” Ross said, “they don’t have anything. You don’t have a car, you don’t have a house, you’re having to depend on other people, and it would be harder to get it. So I think it’s a real good idea. It would have been harder for me, when I was out there cooking meth, to get hold of it.”
Ross said she traveled around when she could to get the ingredients.
“Murfreesboro, Nashville, several different counties. That way it would be harder for someone to pinpoint what you were doing.”
Local SOCM member Crickett Keener said she was pleased to see front-page coverage of a local arrest for the sale of large amounts of meth ingredients, noting the county seemed already geared up to utilize the kind of information the resolution would require retailers to collect. She was also glad to see the long sentences handed out to the offenders.
“They’re working for stiffer penalties, and this was a pretty stiff penalty,” said Keener. “At least that’s two off the streets.”
While some local retailers are already asking for ID, they are not legally required to do so. Keener said Warren County is third in the state for meth production, behind Cumberland and Putnam counties, and encourages local citizens to write letters to the editor, approach their commissioners, and talk to retailers.
“Do you want Warren County being number three?” Keener asked. “Or are you willing to help?”
Ross, who has been clean for 14 months, said she made the decision to kick the habit during her last jail sentence.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “But I decided I didn’t want to live like that anymore.”
And Ross now has a very personal reason for going public with her meth addiction and joining with SOCM in pushing for these regulations.
“I’d like to get it off the streets,” Ross said. “I am an addict, and they say a lot of this is hereditary,” she added as tears began to flow. “I’ve got three boys that I don’t want to see go down the road that I have. And so for my children and grandchildren, this resolution is really, really important.”