AUTHORITIES TACKLE METH PROBLEM BY STARTING AT TOP

Randa Saffo may one day return to being a hairdresser. She may again cut,
color and style at her Oklahoma City shop, Randa's Hair Design.

It just won't happen until she completes a 10-year federal prison term for
what prosecutors said was her role in the state's methamphetamine epidemic.

In addition to cutting and styling, Saffo sold pseudoephedrine.

Prosecutors said she ordered millions of tablets of the drug, the main
ingredient in several store-bought sinus and allergy medications, and
shipped more than 200 million tablets to illegal drug labs in California.

In the first case of its kind to be argued in Oklahoma City federal court,
prosecutors alleged Saffo knew the pseudoephedrine was going to be used to
make methamphetamine. The jury agreed.

Pseudoephedrine is a legal drug, but law enforcement officials say
controlling access to it may be a key in winning the state's battle against
methamphetamine.

"We're still going after meth labs, but we're looking at the other end,"
said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs Control. "Who are supplying the chemicals for the meth cooks?"

Legal chemical, illegal uses Pseudoephedrine is one of several chemicals
used to make methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that can cause
permanent schizophrenia, rot teeth and deteriorate internal organs. Other
meth ingredients include iodine, anhydrous ammonia, battery acid and
fertilizer.

But law enforcement officials say pseudoephedrine is the most important
ingredient, or precursor. With only a slight chemical variation, an allergy
pill can become a speed hit.

"You don't need a Ph.D. in chemistry," said Robert McCampbell, U.S.
attorney for Oklahoma's western federal judicial district.

McCampbell has been targeting illegal pseudoephedrine dealers for more than
three years. Twenty-two people targeted by his office have been convicted.
Prosecuting such cases is not always easy, he said.

"You catch a guy possessing heroin, he's guilty," McCampbell said. "Catch
him possessing pseudoephedrine, is he guilty? Maybe, maybe not.

"Those cases are a little more challenging but they're worth it because you
can have such a great effect."

McCampbell said taking out a pseudoephedrine dealer has a trickle-down
effect, eliminating methamphetamine producers because they can no longer
get their main ingredient.

Federal prosecutors in Oklahoma City estimate they have taken about 1,800
pounds of methamphetamine off the streets by disrupting the supply chain.
That amount of the drug would have sold on the street for more than $18
million.

"If you can take one pseudoephedrine dealer out of business, you can put a
bunch of meth labs out of business," McCampbell said.

Legislative muscle He said a key tool in the battle to control the sale of
the precursor drug could be legislation scheduled to take effect Nov. 1.

Oklahoma House Bill 1326, the Pseudoephedrine Accountability Act, requires
distributors of pseudoephedrine to register with the state Bureau of
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

Woodward said the legislation will open the books of distributors.

"If they are selling to meth cooks, or selling with a reckless disregard
for whether or not it's going to be used to cook meth, we're going to let
them know they're as guilty as the cooks themselves," he said.

Woodward said pseudoephedrine controls "could make a huge dent" in the
state's methamphetamine problem, something officials say could take decades
to get under control.

McCampbell said pseudoephedrine regulation is at least partly responsible
for reducing the purity of methamphetamine on Oklahoma City streets in the
past five years. It's become less potent, he said, dropping from 50 percent
purity to 20 percent. He also said the drug has gotten more expensive
during that time, going from a high average of $6,000 a pound up to $15,000
a pound.

"All indications we're getting is the precursor strategy has a lot to do
with that," McCampbell said.

There is evidence that legislation can work in the fight against
methamphetamine. In 1996, laws were passed requiring pseudoephedrine
wholesalers to register with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and
report any sales of the drug that exceed 24 grams.

About 40 Oklahoma wholesalers registered with the DEA.

Fourteen remain in business now, and nine of those have pending legal
actions against them, McCampbell said.

McCampbell said law enforcement agencies also have benefited from stricter
controls and regulations on pseudoephedrine coming from Canada. The drug
was only recently listed as a controlled chemical there, making it more
difficult for Oklahomans to import it.

The Internal Revenue Service is in on the fight, as well, taking
initiatives to track financial transactions of those selling the precursor
drug.

Daunting task But progress in pseudoephedrine control is tempered by the
magnitude of the methamphetamine problem, law enforcement officials said.

The number of methamphetamine labs seized in Oklahoma has jumped more than
1,000 percent since 1994, and Woodward said the state is on pace to top the
1,254 labs seized in 2002.

"The reason it's so easy to cook meth and the reason we have so many labs
is because it's easy to get the main ingredient," Woodward said. "If you
cut off the supply, you're going to cut off the meth, and that's the angle
we're taking right now.

"Get it to crumble from the top down."