Meth bill a solid first step, but it’s just a start
The meth legislation Gov. Phil Bredesen signed into law Wednesday is reason for thunderous applause.
It is not a passive bill. Rather, it is meaningful legislation that takes direct action to keep ingredients used to make meth out of the hands of the people who make it.
There will be some inconvenience. Stores that don’t have a pharmacy will no longer be allowed to sell a variety of cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine.
Stores that do have a pharmacy must now put the cold medicine behind the counter. Consumers are welcome to purchase such products, in limited quantities, but they are going to have to request it at the pharmacy and show identification.
As Bredesen phrased it, this new law is a balance between public safety and consumer convenience. That is certainly accurate.
It will be a hassle to stand in a pharmacy line and show ID just to buy Sudafed. It will be a hassle for people accustomed to buying such medicine at a gas station or country store to be forced to go elsewhere.
But for the thousands of Warren countians whose lives have been ripped apart by meth’s unrelenting grasp, this is a sign progress is being made. Meth has a hideous face and if you haven’t seen it, you’ve been lucky.
Meth addiction forces people to stoop to new lows. They struggle to hold a job. They steal cherished belongings from family members and then sell those items for pennies at a pawn shop. They often immerse their own children in the toxic chemicals of meth production by turning the family home into a meth lab.
This meth bill shows state lawmakers are finally taking the meth epidemic seriously and that’s a welcome sign. For years, all the ingredients needed to make meth could be purchased straight from store shelves. Instead of resistance, there was a red carpet.
Some local stores tried to do their part and took steps to restrict the availability of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Products were placed at the check-out line, or the pharmacy, but this was done voluntarily at the discretion of each individual store.
It should be noted many stores did not comply. Now they don’t have a choice.
With over 1,200 meth labs busted in Tennessee in less than a year, and an estimated 750 children removed from the custody of meth abusers last year, this new law is an appropriate place to start. It’s also just a start.
We need to hammer away with meth education in our schools. Students must learn, at a young age, just how crippling meth can be. They need to understand meth can become addictive from its first use. The only sure-fire way to avoid meth addiction is to never try it.
For those who do make the life-altering mistake of abusing meth, long-term treatment is the only successful way of conquering addiction. Month-long programs are largely ineffective. It takes so much more effort to break free from meth’s clutches. TBI director Mark Gwyn said in a recent interview that six months is about the shortest amount of time he would recommend for meth treatment to work.
Enforcement is just one of the ways we can make an impact in our meth problem. And taking meth ingredients off store shelves is a major part of that.
But we can forget about meth prevention, education and treatment. They too are important weapons in winning the war on meth.