Governor signs order creating meth task force
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Phil Bredesen on Wednesday ordered a new task force to develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with the “scourge” of methamphetamine use in Tennessee.
Legislators asked the governor to take charge after failing to agree on a solution to the spread of the illegal stimulant and its devastating impact on families. More than 700 children have been removed from homes where meth was being manufactured, and state officials expect that to double over the next year.
Bredesen said that represents a failure by the state and “if we do nothing else, we have to protect the children.”
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that Tennessee now accounts for 75 percent of meth lab seizures in the Southeast.
The task force, which includes 20 voting members and 12 ex-officio members to act as advisers, will meet April 27 and present its recommendations to Bredesen by Sept. 1. The group will be chaired by Ken Givens, Bredesen’s agriculture commissioner and a former state lawmaker.
Not all members have been chosen yet, but the task force will include representatives of the Legislature (Sen. Charlotte Burks, D-Monterey, and Rep. Charles Curtiss, D-Sparta), the Tennessee Medical Association (Dr. Sullivan Smith), the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, sheriffs, prosecutors, police chiefs, public defenders, retailers, pharmacists, hospitals and others.
The governor said after signing an executive order that creates the task force that he wants recommendations that aren’t simply for show but will really make a difference.
Givens said the group will move quickly to “try to make Tennessee a place meth dealers don’t want to do business in.”
Bredesen said methamphetamine is “quickly becoming a scourge” and is a “clear and present danger to our state.
“Some say we have lost a generation to it. I don’t intend to lose another,” he said.
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