A warning sign on the brink of a slippery slope, Martin Dwayne
Miller has made North Carolina history as the first meth producer
charged under a state law prohibiting production of weapons of mass
destruction.
Watauga County Sheriff Mark Shook unveiled what he called, 'a
big surprise for meth producers' in charging Miller under the
antiterrorist law that defines a chemical weapon as 'any weapon,
device, method, or substance that is designed or has the capability
to cause death or serious injury through the release,
dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals or their
immediate precursors.' Under normal drug laws, reports Kathleen
McFadden in The Mountain Times, a meth producer would
probably get six months in prison. Conviction under the
antiterrorist law could result in 12 years to life.
'I understand the title of the statute is antiterrorism, but the
statute is much more broad than that,' District Attorney Jerry
Wilson tells The Village Voice. Apart from the obvious
potential for laws, such as the PATRIOT Act, to slip into areas
completely unrelated to terrorism, eroding American civil
liberties, there is also the social and economic costs of prisons:
The Department of Justice reports that prisoners sentenced on
drug-related crimes already account for 55 percent of federal
inmates and 20 percent of state inmates.
-- Joel Stonington
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Upping The Ante On Meth Producers
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