EVERETT — More than a decade ago lawmakers in Olympia were grappling with how to protect children from homemade methamphetamine labs.
Meth was being cooked in bathtubs and kitchen sinks across the state. The process often involved a combination of harmful chemicals, including anhydrous ammonia, drain cleaner, red phosphorus and lithium. There were reports nationwide of children being rescued from dangerous and horrific conditions.
Washington legislators passed a law in 2002 making it a felony to expose children to methamphetamine and its active ingredients, including pseudoephedrine and ephedrine.
“This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately,” the bill read.
A 24-year-old Lynnwood mother on Wednesday pleaded guilty to endangerment with a controlled substance. Jeanie Brewer smoked meth last summer in a vehicle with her daughter in the backseat. She faced up to nine months in jail, the maximum sentence under the law.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss sentenced Brewer to six months in jail. He offered leniency in part because doctors determined that Brewer’s 16-month-old daughter hadn’t suffered any adverse physical effects from the exposure.
He also said keeping the girl’s mother in jail beyond the six months likely wouldn’t help the child in the long run. The girl was removed from Brewer’s care after her arrest in July and was placed with a relative. Brewer is attempting to regain custody.
She and Jacob Horowitz were spotted smoking inside a car parked outside an Edmonds apartment. Undercover drug detectives were doing surveillance in the area and saw Horowitz and Brewer pass a glass meth pipe back and forth.
The detectives also saw two small hands moving in the backseat.
Brewer’s daughter was strapped in a car seat in the back. The windows were down about half way, and police officers noted that some of the smoke remained in the vehicle, according to court papers.
Horowitz, 24, pleaded guilty in September. He faced up to 17 months in prison because of his previous criminal history. He was granted a special sentence for drug addicts and was required to complete drug treatment.
He’s under supervision of the state Department of Corrections for two years. Horowitz recently spent 12 days in jail for failing to show up for a court hearing and not reporting to his community corrections officer.
Brewer has been in custody since April. She had failed to show up for several court hearings.
Weiss called the case unique and expressed concerns about Brewer’s efforts to combat her addiction. She attempted to enter therapeutic drug court earlier this year but bowed out after a month. Her attorney told Weiss that Brewer wasn’t able to complete 90 days of inpatient treatment because of a medical condition.
Brewer told Weiss she relapsed after her daughter’s first birthday. She later moved from meth to heroin.
“I hope to take this time to make something positive for me and my daughter,” she said.
Because it was meth, Brewer was charged with a felony.
The statute does not address other drugs, such as heroin or cocaine. In those instance, prosecutors likely would have been limited to charging Brewer with reckless endangerment, a gross misdemeanor.
Meth likely was singled out because it was easy to cook at home, Snohomish County chief criminal deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro said.
“The fumes are toxic, can permeate walls in an apartment building, and the chemicals used to make meth are volatile and can cause an explosion,” she said.
Police say meth is making a comeback, primarily coming from super labs in Mexico, but heroin use is rampant. Some addicts smoke the powerful opiate.
Back in March, Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies rescued a 3-year-old and 10-month-old from a van in Snohomish after witnessing their parents smoking heroin inside the vehicle.
Unlike cigarette smoke, there have been limited studies about the risks of second-hand opiate exposure.
In 2008, the U.S. State Department contracted scientists to study the effects of opium smoke on children in Afghanistan. The country produces about 90 percent of the world’s supply of opium, which through a complicated chemical process is synthesized into heroin.
The study found that in homes where opium and its products, including heroin, were smoked, there were high concentrations in the air and on surfaces, such as toys and bedding. Children’s hair samples also tested positive for opium products.
“The data from the study suggest the inhalation of second-hand smoke and contact with contaminated surfaces are endangering women and children,” living in these households, according to the study.
The scientists suggested that more studies are necessary to determine the effects of the second-hand heroin exposure.
“Those living in close proximity to the primary drug smoker are smoking themselves, but without their consent,” the scientists wrote. “These data are unique and important for public health, child protection services, and health promotion of those living in homes where drugs of any kind are smoked.”
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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