Governor Perdue Receives Meth Summit Recommendations

ATLANTA, GA – Governor Sonny Perdue today met with representatives from the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse (GCSA) to review the top recommendations from the Methamphetamine and Georgia: Seeking Solutions summit.

“Last August we brought together men and women from all over Georgia to discuss the rising problem of methamphetamine abuse in Georgia, and I’m pleased to see the results of their hard work,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “These recommendations will help us put a stop to the harm this drug is inflicting on Georgia communities, families, and children.”

Governor Perdue was presented with twenty-five recommendations in five categories– public awareness, clandestine lab response, pre-cursor chemicals, drug endangered children, and statewide coordination, training, best practices, and protocols. Representatives of the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Georgia State Patrol, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, State Board of Pardons and Paroles, Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Georgia Department of Corrections were present for the meeting and discussed ongoing initiatives in state government addressing methamphetamine.

The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council will evaluate the summit recommendations and coordinate with state departments, federal agencies, and local law enforcement agencies to improve the state and local strategies for addressing methamphetamine production and use.

Governor Perdue and the GCSA hosted the August summit, a two-day working session focused on discussing the issues of methamphetamine production and use in Georgia. The summit was facilitated by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC). Summit participants, working with specially trained group facilitators, developed recommendations to address the problem at both the state and local level.

Federal agencies involved with the coordination and execution of the summit included the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration, National Crime Prevention Council, Office of National Drug Control Policy, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Community Oriented Policing Services (U.S. Department of Justice), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). State agencies included the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Department of Human Resources, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and the Georgia National Guard.

In 2003, Governor Perdue proposed and signed into law legislation that strengthened criminal penalties for the manufacture, transfer and possession of methamphetamine and criminalized the transport of materials used in its illegal production. The following year, Governor Perdue, as part of his Child Protection Legislation, proposed and signed into law stiffer penalties for manufacturing or possessing methamphetamine or a chemical substance intended to be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine in the presence of a child.