Officials say tougher laws needed to keep meth users behind bars

For cops and deputy sheriffs working their beats in Amador, the word "crime" is almost synonymous now with the word "methamphetamine."

While some locals are beginning to come to terms with the link between meth addiction and burglaries, robberies, larcenies and other property crimes, law enforcement officials are also seeing a major connection between the gripping drug and crimes such as spousal abuse, child abuse, sexual assault, identity theft, fraud and child endangerment. Cops say one thing is for sure: Dealing with meth has become a routine occurrence for anyone who wears a badge in Amador County.

Last April, the Amador County Probation Department found some hard numbers to back that up. Chief Probation Officer Mark Bonini had his agents study the link between criminal offenders they were supervising and methamphetamine. What Bonini discovered was that, over the last four years, roughly 50 percent of felony offenders had involvement with meth, or a history of meth use.

"The numbers are pretty consistent," Bonini said of his department's findings from 2006 to the present. "And that's only looking at felony cases."



Bonini added that, in a recent six-month period, almost one-third of felony offenders who'd tested positive for drugs while on probation were using meth.

Such findings support U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's recent public comments in October, when she said that she'd been made aware by law enforcement that Amador County has a "serious" methamphetamine problem.

In addition to fueling crimes against foothill residents, meth is also known to have a corrosive, if not horrific, effect on the addicts it claims. Experts agree that meth use causes permanent facial disfigurement, open sores, deep scabs, rotting teeth, anorexia, body tremors, convulsions, seizures, dangerous mood swings and violent behavior. The chemicals being stored in meth laboratories throughout the foothills are also highly explosive and pose a serious threat to waste disposal workers and local ground soil and water supplies.

When Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan came into office in 2007, he quickly identified combating the area's methamphetamine producers as a top priority. He formed the Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement team, or ACCNET, which to date has launched more than 49 major operations against meth producers, or "cookers," in Amador.



But ACCNET, along with deputy sheriffs and city police officers across Amador County, is facing an uphill battle to keep meth dealers off the streets. Despite the drug's devastating impact on rural crime, families and the environment, California law currently levels far lighter penalties on criminals involved with meth than on those involved with producing and selling cocaine, heroin or PCP. The result is that there's no mandatory jail term for meth producers in order for them to receive probation.

For State Assemblymember Alyson Huber, who represents Amador County and other nearby communities in the 10th District, the laws have to change if cops are to have a chance at controlling area crime and keeping residents safe. Huber has authored Assembly Bill 640, which calls for a mandatory 120 days in jail for meth producers as a condition of probation - essentially making them a legal equivalent to cocaine, heroin and PCP dealers. "We must put an end to the ability of drug dealers to return directly back to our streets after being convicted of selling methamphetamine," Huber told fellow lawmakers in April. "The longer we put drug pushers behind bars, the longer drug addicts and drug-infested communities will have to clean up and break the cycle of abuse."



Testifying in that hearing in support of Huber's bill was Ryan, who said, "In Amador County the methamphetamine problem has a greater impact on public safety than does heroin or cocaine ... we've found (meth) to be the underlying cause of such criminal offenses as domestic violence and child endangerment. We would be doing our communities and children a great disservice if we do not do everything in our power to keep those that peddle this devastating product away from our citizens as long as possible." Also supporting the bill was Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness and San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore.

When Huber sat down with the Ledger Dispatch on Dec. 17, she said she was still fighting hard to push AB 640 through its second committee. "It's hard to know if others realize the full scope of what methamphetamine is doing to communities in my district," Huber said. "It's wreaking a major toll; and I'm really hopeful this bill is something that I can get pushed through next year. We need this."

Political observers think that Huber, a Democrat, may face the toughest resistance to passing AB 640 by lawmakers in her own party. Ryan is trying to be optimistic that the bill's importance will eventually guide it through committee to an up or down vote. "What we'd get if this legislation passed is a break from the meth dealers we arrest," Ryan observed. "When you look at all of the various crimes they're involved with in our area, the longer we can get them off the streets, the better."

Excerpted from www.ledger-dispatch.com