W. Alan Beckelheimer "Something To Think About ..." Published Dec. 1, 2004

Retail industry needs to step forward in fight against meth

America is and has always been a country of contradictions. This is evidenced in contemporary times by the popularity of shows such as "Desperate Housewives," which features sexual content in every episode and portrays women as sexual monsters. Yet at the same time, Americans voted overwhelmingly in favor of President Bush with values being one of the determining factors to voters.

A recent CNN/Gallup pole found that 70 percent of Americans believe that the moral values in our country are deteriorating.

This underlying conflict that is present our country is also present right here in Cumberland County and Tennessee in regards to our state's struggle against meth.

In January, Governor Bredesen plans to introduce legislation that seeks to curb the ease with which meth cooks can purchase the components utilized in the manufacture of meth. A similar law in Oklahoma cut the number of meth lab seizures in that state by 50 percent. This law would be beneficial in Tennessee because our state has the honor of being the hotspot for meth in the Southeast with 75 percent of the meth lab seizures in the Southeast occuring right here in Tennessee.

One in seven high school students will try meth before they graduate and 99 percent of people that try the drug one time are addicted to it.

For the sake of example let's take a school the size of CCHS and do some math. If there are 2,000 students in the high school and one in seven of them try meth, that's approximately 287 students that will try meth. Now if 99 percent of those students get addicted to meth after they try it once, that means that 286 lives will be subject to the tortures that meth wreaks upon humanity with the possibility that meth is all these people know before they finally succumb to its toxic effects.

That's just the number of high school students that our community could lose to meth; that number doesn't signfiy other members of the community whose dreams, hopes and entire lives will be consumed by meth usage.

Because the users and cookers of meth are so many in our community, I for one look forward to the Tennessee General Assembly passing Governor's Bredesen's legislation soon after its introduction in January. Part of Bredesen's legislation will target retail stores where meth components are sold everyday. Even though this legislation would do immeasureable good, there are groups poised to vehemently oppose it with their lobbyists and mountains of money.

Care to venture a guess as to who they are? Retailers.

Even though meth ravages our community, retailers seem to be conflicted as to whether or not they should use their full influence in the community to battle the proliferation of the drug.

The Tennessee Retailers Assocation and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association plan to fight any legislation that they deem as being too strong because of the inconvenience of moving their stock and the potential profit losses that the retailers may incur.

I contacted the Tennessee Retailers Association to see if they would comment on their intention to resist the passage of Bredesen's statewide meth law.

Russell Palk, a member of the association, said, "We look forward to working with Gov. Bredesen on reasonable meth legislation."

Now you and I both know that the meaning of the word reasonable varies widely depending on just who is involved in the conversation.

Reasonable for retailers seems to reflect their profits. That is, the motivation of profits for retailers, even if it is money coming from the manufacture of meth, is more important to them than using their influence for the public good, i.e. supporting legislation that would make meth harder to make and sell.

Retailers move their stock so much that I can't keep up most of the time anyway, so I am not sure how much water this aspect of their argument holds. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if retailers made more money by taking a stand against meth and supporting legislation curbing its spread than they currently make off those purchasing components to make meth.

I for one use a great deal of scrutiny in making my purchases and if I knew a business was doing its part to cleanup our community, I would be much more inclined to trade there. By not supporting this legislation, the retail community is actually losing money, whether they realize it or not.

You see, if the components used to make meth are readily available for purchase by anyone, there will be a greater supply of meth in our community. If there is a greater supply of meth, it follows that there will be more users of meth in our community. If there are more users of meth, then there will be less people willing or able to work, thereby weakening our tax base, limiting the workforce that retailers and other businesses draw upon for their operation, and limiting the money available to members of the community for spending in retail stores because a percentage of this money must go to taxes to pay for law enforcement and the upkeep of jails. In addition, when someone buys meth they sure aren't spending that money anywhere else, especially not in a retail store. So why wouldn't retailers support meth legislation that could greatly help the clean up of our community and state? They lack leadership.

America is a democracy and our land is one of freedoms. But the freedom that our nation allows us to enjoy also charges its citizens with responsibility towards their fellow person.

Society will always have its darker side and simply outlawing something is no guarentee that it will disappear, Americans learned this lesson with Prohibtion.

No, what we need is leadership in our community and state, including from retailers.

When I use the word leadership I mean people that care enough about their fellow man to recognize that we are all just imperfect humans and gracious enough to help their fellow man aspire to a higher plane of existence, free from the trappings of meth, without consideration as to how much money may be lost by doing what is right for the community.

If retailers and others in the community became leaders in this sense, much progress could be made concerning the proliferation of meth and many lives could be salvaged or prevented from ever reaching the point of needing salvaging.

I will put this simply so its meaning isn't lost on retailers, supporting new and restrictive meth legislation is truly a benefit to all, including retailers, and once this law is passed, retailers will experience an improvement in the communities which support them.

Caveat Emptor, if retailers do not support the passage of effective meth legislation in January, they have failed the communities that make their existence possible and would be well served to be boycotted and shamed into making the interests of their communities their interests. Winning the fight against meth must be done, our morality calls out for it, our religion calls out for it and our community's children call out for it. Money doesn't mean all that much when compared to these three, now does it?

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W. Alan Beckelheimer is a Crossville Chronicle staffwriter. His column appears each Wednesday in the Chronicle.