Neal has led fight on illegal drugs

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July 24, 2012

Neal has led fight on illegal drugs

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:21 AM EDT

When Jay Neal was first elected to the state House of Representatives eight years ago, he says a methamphetamine epidemic was gripping northwest Georgia. He quickly sponsored a bill that placed products containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and other things used to make meth behind store counters and limited the amount of such products an individual could possess at one time.

Neal faces Chickamauga businessman Steve Tarvin in the Republican primary for state House District 2 on July 31. Redistricting has placed Trichum, Tunnel Hill and Westside in Whitfield County in District 2. No Democrat qualified for the position, so unless an independent qualifies, the winner of the primary will win the seat.

Neal says the bill he sponsored resulted in a 55 percent drop in meth labs across the state in just the first year after it became law.

His work on that bill introduced him to the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse. Through that organization and through his church, Neal became acquainted with those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction.

“I began to see that addiction was driving them to do things that were out of their character,” he said.

Neal became interested in ways to help these individuals overcome their addiction, and he was one of the sponsors of the criminal justice reform bill that passed the Legislature earlier this year that makes it easier for nonviolent drug offenders to go through drug courts that offer treatment instead of being sentenced to prison time.

“When we take nonviolent offenders and send them to prison we increase the likelihood that they will re-offend. We increase the likelihood that their offenses will become more serious and probably more violent,” he said. “We are still going to hold them accountable for their actions, but we are going to do it in a way that studies show is far more effective by giving them some rehabilitation, mandatory supervision and other alternatives to prison.”

Neal, 49, grew up in Heiskel, Tenn., a small community just outside of Knoxville. He attended the University of Tennessee for two years, majoring in mechanical engineering.

“During my sophomore year I was called into the ministry, so I finished my college education at Emmanuel Bible College (in Nashville, Tenn.) and got a bachelor’s in theology degree,” he said.

Neal pastored for a church in West Virginia for two years, then pastored for three years at a church in Kentucky before being called to pastor a church in LaFayette in 1989.

“My wife (Gretchen) is from Rock Spring, so it was coming back home for her,” he said.

The couple have two adult children.

Neal is currently north campus director for Penfield Christian Homes in LaFayette.

“We are an intensive six-week residential treatment program for drug addicts and alcoholics. The LaFayette campus is a 27-bed facility. We have 107 beds total,” he said.

Neal also worked as a Realtor for several years.

“I had always voted faithfully and encouraged my congregation to vote. But I had never been involved politically until I first ran for the state House,” he said. “I was part of a group of 12 different churches from seven different denominations that came together to try to bring the community together and bring down racial, economic and denominational barriers. One of the men who helped organize that rally encouraged me to run.”

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Neal has led fight on illegal drugs

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