W. Alan Beckelheimer "Something To Think About ..." Published Nov. 24, 2004

Faith is an effective weapon against meth

Since I've been doing columns on the meth problem here in Cumberland County and Crossville, I've come into contact with many people who've had personal experiences with the horrible effects of this drug and most of them have candidly shared those experiences with me. For this I am very grateful. The sharing of these experiences has caused me to make some observations that I would like to share with our readers.

First, I believe that traditional police efforts and crime fighting tactics are not going to be enough to fully and effectively shut down meth in our community. It will be extremely hard to arrest ourselves out of this problem because our jails are currently overcrowded and the legal penalties for many of those charged in meth cases cannot be exercised to their fullest extent.

Anyone reading the newspaper can clearly see that there is a revolving door in our community consisting of methamphetamine offenders. Many of these people are consistently busted for meth only to be turned loose into the community to once again cook meth and use meth, not only endangering their lives but the lives of every member of the community.

Secondly, there simply isn't enough regulation involved concerning who can purchase the components for meth and the ease with which they can purchase these items. For instance, much has been said about limiting the availability of the products involved in the manufacture of meth by ID'ing those making suspicious purchases and having those people sign a log at the store where the purchase is going to be made.

Unfortunately, however good the intentions were behind this practice, it isn't enough. Walk into any gas station in town and look around the cash register. What will you see? I know that you will find glass stems with small roses (or other seemingly innocent objects) inside. While these look innocent enough, they are actually utilized by meth users as pipes for smoking meth. Many other products such as this are also just as readily available in our convenience stores and willingly sold by our shop keepers for the sake of a dollar. Seems to me that if the shopkeepers cared about the community in which they did business, they would seek to limit the proliferation of such articles within their stores. In this way they could limit the availability of objects used in the manufacture and abuse of meth, by taking a small step forward in their interest and responsibility in the community, they could largely increase its health, wealth and happiness. Any business that would be lost would more than be replaced by those in the community with appreciative feelings towards those shopkeepers that took a stand and did the right thing for their fellow man.

Another observation worth noting concerns the log books people sign when purchasing suspect items. Signatures can be forged, and so can drivers' licenses. One meth cook could send 20 of his associates to different stores in the community to buy supplies piecemeal, without ever arousing suspicion. Surely this system has to be flawed.

During a conversation with a good friend of mine (thanks CS), the topic of these log books came up and it was observed that banks may be practicing the idea that could help our community in its efforts to eliminate meth from our midst.

When you go cash a check at a bank and don't have an account there, what is one of the first things they do? They ask you for your right thumb print on the back of the check to protect themselves from fraud.

If such a practice were used to monitor the purchase of meth components, cooks and their associates would be much less willing to take advantage of the system to acquire their goods and have much more fear in them knowing that a fingerprint already exists and any meth lab components that are seized could be directly traced to them. The bottom line is if we can surrender our fingerprints when conducting monetary transactions at banks, then we can submit them to protect ourselves from being oppressed by the beast that is meth. This practice would be wildly effective, if anyone has the courage and character to seek its passage.

Finally, most of the success stories I've heard concerning people that have been able to stop their meth use and lead productive lives have involved faith.

I emphatically believe in the separation of church and state, but I also believe strongly that both church and state make irrefutable contributions to the strength of America, and that they can work together for the common good of our citizens without violating the United States Constitution.

By definition, government is experimental and imperfect, it is always a running work in progress.

Faith has the capability to speak to the inner life, to our quest for truth and our spirit's capacity for profound change and growth.

Government programs don't work in a culture that doesn't value family, work and mutual respect. And it's equally hard to live by convictions given to us by faith without acting on the spiritual admonitions to care for the poor and downtrodden and to love thy neighbor as thyself.

Thus, if we as a community can look into our hearts and address our current meth problem with faith, I believe there is hope for what we can achieve together.

People that use meth and cook meth in our community are our neighbors and should be loved.

They should be loved to the extent that we make every effort to confront them and make them realize that they are making choices detrimental to not only their lives, but to the lives of their children and their neighbors in the community. If this confrontation includes the police then so be it; something has to make our neighbors realize that what they are doing is destructive and that they are missing the point of life while they remain on their current path.

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