Pawlenty unveils

new meth initiative

Governor expects

bipartisan support for plan in 2005

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

MANKATO -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty joined area Republican legislators Monday afternoon as he announced a new four-point legislative initiative to combat methamphetamine.

The governor said he intends to make the plan, which is largely based on proposals introduced during last year's session, high on his list of priorities going into the 2005 session.

Proposals for a cleanup bill were introduced in both houses of the Legislature last session, and several area counties adopted meth lab cleanup ordinances this spring.

Pawlenty said his plan will address meth on four fronts -- prevention, prosecution, clean-up and treatment. He unveiled the initiative earlier on Monday at a national conference in St. Paul attended by more than 300 meth experts and policymakers from around the country. He expects the plan to cost $3.5 million for the coming biennium.

"There have been various bills dealing with meth use, but I am confident that this will have bi-partisan support," the governor said.

An illegal drug made by cooking several household chemicals together, methamphetamine -- or meth, as it's more commonly known -- recently came to the attention of local and state officials in the wake of increased law enforcement attention, increased health problems and concerns about meth lab cleanup and pollution.

Pawlenty said the trend has had a "disproportionate impact on greater Minnesota" even though it is becoming more common in the metro area because most Minnesota meth is made outside the Twin Cities.

The governor said the initiative will address prevention by developing public education programs in schools, limit access to the chemicals like pseudoephedrine that are used as ingredients in meth -- such as in Oklahoma, where cold pills that have pseudoephedrine are only available behind the pharmacy counter -- and educate and train local officials to better deal with the illegal drug.

Pawlenty said he plans to fund 10 new narcotics agents for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, increase the penalties for meth manufacturers and users who endanger children and establish additional crimes for stealing or using anhydrous ammonia to make meth.

Pawlenty said his initiative will address meth lab cleanup by making lab users pay restitution to cover the costs of response and cleanup, create a state revolving loan fund to help communities with the costs, prohibit reoccupation of properties contaminated by meth production until cleanup is complete and require statewide clean-up standards and procedures be applied to all clean-ups.

Finally, the governor's initiatives would address treatment by developing new treatment methods, creating pilot programs to treat previous meth users.

"This is typically a rural drug," said Scott Burns, deputy director of the White House Office of Drug Policy, who helped develop the governor's initiative. "Even though it is moving into metro areas."

Burns said meth is used by 1.5 million of the 19.5 million illegal drug users in the U.S. In the past educational efforts about illegal narcotics have focused more attention on marijuana, PCP and GIB but are now beginning to turn towards meth.

"But trying to cut it off is easier said than done," he said.

State Send. Julie Rose (R-Fairmont), whose bill largely forms the basis for the governor's initiatives, added, "It's a different addiction with meth. In the Midwest, the West Coast trends are hitting harder. The normal trends don't equate with meth."

Pawlenty said that a consensus emerged during the last legislative session although legislators decided the bill could wait. He said the bill will be a high priority for his office once the session begins.

"I hate to use the word 'crisis' because it gets used all the time, but that's what's happening here," he said. "We're in a crisis situation."