Lawmen, D.A.’s office trying to halt Methamphetamine use in Unicoi County

Lawmen, D.A.’s office trying to halt Methamphetamine use in Unicoi County
By Ron Scalf

December 20, 2005

In an effort to inform the public concerning the perils associated with methamphetamine drug use, the District Attorney General’s Office and the Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department began a public relations campaign Wednesday.

“Tennessee recently passed some of the toughest meth laws on the books in the United States,” Assistant District Attorney General Mark Hill said. “There are greater fines, penalties for possessing and using methamphetamine and even stiffer penalties for manufacturing the drug. This all started with California bikers, and the use of meth sped across the country. In fact, East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia is eat up with it.”

Sheriff Kent Harris said he reminds young people on a daily basis what using meth leads to. He and Hill were at Unicoi County Middle School Wednesday afternoon passing out literature and bumper stickers warning kids about the dangers of drugs, especially methamphetamine.

“It destroys people’s lives when they get hooked,” Harris said. “You can see what it does in our ads in the Beacon. The woman featured used meth for only five years, and yet she looks like an old woman when she really is only 30 years old.”

Hill said the recipe for cooking a batch of methamphetamine is readily available on the Internet.

“The problem is, ... people don’t pay attention and some don’t know the ingredients are volatile. In Carter County, we recently went to a house looking for stolen property and the owner wouldn’t let us search his garage without a search warrant. Two days later the garage blew up. Now we know why,” Hill said.

Harris added that about a year ago a house in Unicoi was “blown to smithereens” after a fire got away from two young people cooking a batch of meth. Four people were sent to jail in connection with the crime.

Hill and Harris passed out brochures at local schools telling of the dangers tied to meth use. The information was provided by the Appalachia HIDTA (drug trafficking awareness program) in conjunction with the U.S. Forestry Service and Southwest Missouri State University.

In our region, meth labs are found in secluded areas, abandoned structures, automobile trunks, National Forests and in both occupied and abandoned homes.

“If you suspect someone has a meth lab in operation please call the sheriff’s department or the D.A. or the Appalachia HIDTA drug tip line (866-424-4382),” Harris said. “You will save a life, and get a drug thug off the streets.”