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Text SizeTown Hall on the Methamphetamine Crisis in Georgia with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Prepared Remarks of Governor Sonny Perdue
Town Hall on the Methamphetamine Crisis in Georgia with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Waleska, GA
Monday, February 20, 2006
(Note: The Governor sometimes deviates from prepared remarks)
Thank you, Commissioner Byrd and thank you all for being here today to discuss one of the most important community, public health and law enforcement concerns we face today.
The methamphetamine crisis spreading through our state takes a terrible toll in lives ruined and lives lost.
Meth is deadly to make and deadly to take. It is a threat to families and a corrosive influence eating away at our communities.
So I appreciate so many concerned citizens coming together today to discuss solutions for the meth challenge. We have here today representatives of law enforcement, drug counselors, community activists, students and others.
I want to thank President Thomas Isherwood and Reinhardt College for hosting this event today.
I also want to recognize the outstanding work of the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad. Led by the GBI's Terry Pelfrey, the Squad made 490 arrests last year, and seized over $300,000 worth of methamphetamine.
Congratulations to all the agencies and personnel involved, including Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison.
The meth crisis has been a concern for me since the start of my administration.
In 2003, I signed legislation to crack down on the misuse and trafficking of meth precursor chemicals. We also imposed stiffer penalties for meth trafficking.
In 2004, we took another important step with the passage of my Child Protection Package which, among other provisions, made it a felony to manufacture meth in the presence of children.
This was to address one of the most heartbreaking aspects of the meth problem – the exposure of children to deadly fumes and the risk of fire and explosions from home meth labs.
Over half of GBI meth lab investigations involve either the removal of children present at the time, or a referral to DFACS because of the presence of children.
When parents or other caregivers put their craving for drugs ahead of the welfare of their children, that's a situation where we must intervene.
In August of 2004, we held Georgia's first statewide summit on seeking solutions to the meth problem.
This summit brought together members of the law enforcement, policy and treatment communities.
The goal was to share best practices, to find new ways to work together, and to develop comprehensive strategies for decreasing meth production, trafficking and abuse.
The summit was a great success and a true statewide call to arms. One product of the summit was a recommendation to restrict the sale of over-the-counter products containing psuedoepehderine.
Last year I signed legislation introduced by Representative Jay Neal and Senator Jeff Mullis to move these products behind the counter at pharmacies and retail stores and require that wholesalers of these products be licensed.
In addition to these legislative responses, Georgia has seen strong anti-meth community efforts, multi-jurisdictional cooperation and training.
The GBI has trained over 100 multi-jurisdictional drug task force members in meth lab clean-up and safety as well as trained a large number of their agents to respond to local labs.
GBI has also produced a video which provides an overview of warning signs and the associated dangers of meth labs.
The video has been distributed to local law enforcement across the state with the cooperation of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and the Georgia Sheriff's Association to all member agencies.
We have also worked in partnership with the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse in the Meth Watch Program.
This program educates retailers on the ingredients that are used to make meth and encourages stronger partnerships with law enforcement.
As a result of all these efforts I have just mentioned, we are seeing the spread of meth labs slow down. We haven't solved the meth crisis by any means.
But we are having an impact. That is heartening and encouraging.
And it is a tribute to the hard work, dedication and professionalism of our law enforcement and prosecutors … of our counseling, public health and treatment community … and of many volunteers and concerned citizens.
Unfortunately, as we have made headway against homegrown meth labs, we've seen an increase in imported meth.
So our fight continues. I have recommended over $1 million in my 2007 budget to create a 15-agent GBI meth task force that will target meth cases statewide.
The task force will assist local law enforcement in the areas of highest need for methamphetamine investigative work.
I have also recommended $1 million in treatment funds to employ the proven Matrix model to help meth-addicted parents.
I can't say enough in praise of our local and state partners. We've built a strong coalition to contain, slow down and ultimately end the meth plague that threatens our state.
But there is one other key partner I have not yet mentioned – the federal government.
We have relied on federal grant funds to operate our multi-jurisdictional task forces. We use federal Local Law Enforcement Block Grant funding to train officers equipped with Homeland Security chemical response equipment to respond to methamphetamine labs.
And federal law enforcement agencies work closely with our GBI and local task forces to share intelligence, make arrests, and successfully prosecute meth traffickers.
The increase of imported meth coming into Georgia makes a close partnership with federal law enforcement even more important.
We are honored to have as our guest today the nation's chief federal law enforcer.
Al Gonzales was sworn-in as our Nation's eightieth Attorney General on February 3, 2005. He previously served as Counsel to President George W. Bush, a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, and in other offices in the Texas state government.
Attorney General Gonzales recognizes the need for a comprehensive approach to fighting meth that includes attention to both treatment and law enforcement efforts. He has been a strong partner in Georgia's anti-meth fight.
I am delighted that the Attorney General accepted our invitation to be here today for this important discussion. Please join me in welcoming The Honorable Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States.