TARGET METH LABS, NOT THE REST OF US

Make It Tough To Get The Key Active Ingredient, But Don't Restrict
Access To All The Others

If the house next door smells like cat urine, ether or ammonia, the
windows are blacked out, the trash is full of antifreeze containers,
red-stained coffee filters, drain cleaner and duct tape, and there are
a lot of people coming and going clutching clear glass containers,
chances are it's a crystal meth lab. If it blows up it's almost sure
to be.

Crystal meth is becoming more popular, especially among the young,
because it's cheap and easy -- if dangerous -- to make. The federal
government has promised to bring in greater controls for the
manufacture and sale of commercial bulk-quantity ephedrine, the drug's
main ingredient, but some provinces don't think that's enough.

The problem is pseudoephedrine, found in cough medicines and cold
remedies, which can be processed to manufacture crystal meth.

While these home-brew operations only account for 10 to 20 per cent of
the crystal meth manufactured in North America, provinces such as
Manitoba and Saskatchewan have ordered the medications containing only
pseudoephedrine removed from open shelves and placed behind pharmacy
counters.

They're also considering banning their sale in supermarkets and
grocery stores. In the U.S. sting operations are being conducted to
catch pharmacists selling large quantities of cold medications to
people who don't have even a sniffle.

B.C.'s approach, as announced by Solicitor General John Les this week,
is more restrained.

Police, pharmacists and retailers are to be on the watch for bulk
sales and theft of cold medications. If there's a pattern of apparent
misuse, Les said, their sale will be restricted to licensed
pharmacies. But he warned that "if problems persist" we'll need a
prescription to get them.

This is where things get out of balance. Eighty to 90 per cent of
crystal meth is made in super-labs using commercial bulk-quantity
ephedrine. But in order to stop those who cook up small doses of the
stuff at home, the rest of us shouldn't have to go to a doctor and get
a prescription to treat the symptoms of the common cold.

It doesn't take many pills to make a batch of crystal meth. And what
about the other ingredients?

Are farm suppliers to be forbidden to sell tincture of iodine? Are we
to ban matchboxes because the strike pad is red phosphorus? Are we to
get by without alcohol, ether, benzene, paint thinner, camp-stove
fuel, lye, ammonia, even hair-dryers and camera batteries because they
can be used to make the stuff?

People so desperate for a high that they'll smoke anything or shove
anything into their veins will find ways to get what they need no
matter what obstacles are put in their way. We should make it
difficult for them to get the main ingredient of crystal meth, but the
rest of us should be able to get on with our lives.