Meth offender registry

Modeled on sex offender registries, Tennessee's Meth Offender Registry Database was recently launched, the Los Angeles Times reported Dec. 30. The registry, the first of its kind in any state, was created by the Meth-Free Tennessee Act of 2005 (Chapter 18, pdf, 44KB, 8p., from the 2005 Tennessee General Assembly). Administered by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), the web site displays the names of persons convicted after March 30, 2005, of manufacturing meth. The conviction must be of a "substantive violation," not "conspiracy, attempt, and facilitation" (from the site).

According to the Times article, Tennessee lawmakers were responding to "pleas from landlords and property owners who could be bankrupted quickly by the cost of cleaning contaminated properties." (See FR here for more on meth labs clean-up.) In 2004 Tennessee authorities seized 1,574 meth labs (second only to Missouri) and placed more than 700 children in foster care. A TBI spokeswoman said meth labs "'were becoming a public threat to the extent that you couldn't even feel safe in your own neighborhood.'"