POLICE BRACE FOR METH MARKET CHANGES

Mexican drug cartels might move quickly to fill the demand for
methamphetamine as Missouri on Friday joins a growing list of states that
are restricting the sale of cold pills that are used to make the powerful
drug. And some police fear that Missouri's meth cooks, desperate to stay in
business, might turn to the Metro East area.

Missouri's new law prohibits most Missouri retailers from selling hundreds
of over-the-counter medications containing pseudoephedrine, the essential
ingredient in most recipes for meth.

While supporters of the law say it won't stop most addicts from getting
their fix, they're hoping it will make a dent in the thousands of makeshift
meth labs that have sprung up across Missouri's rural landscape. In recent
years, the state has led the nation in the number of meth lab seizures. The
labs can blow up, and breathing the toxic chemicals used to make meth can
shave years off the lives of drug cooks, their families and even the police
who try to shut the labs down.

Starting as early as this weekend, meth experts predict, some Missouri meth
cooks will head to Illinois, the only state bordering Missouri that hasn't
adopted similar pseudoephedrine restrictions. Police believe that most meth
makers will bring the pills back to Missouri but that some drug cooks
likely will move their operations to Illinois.

Master Sgt. Rick Hector of the Illinois State Police said, "We're familiar
with Missouri's new statute, and we'll be cracking down on any folks who
think they can come to our state to buy pills to make methamphetamine." He
added that police would continue to tell retailers how to recognize meth
cooks shopping for supplies.

In Illinois, retailers must stock pseudoephedrine pills behind counters or
in locked cabinets, and it's illegal to sell more than two packages at a
time. But many drug investigators say cooks still can visit dozens of
stores to buy the hundreds of pills they need to make a small batch of meth.

Under the new Missouri law, most pseudoephedrine remedies - including
Sudafed and other leading decongestants - will be available only at
pharmacies. Prescriptions aren't required, but consumers must show
identification and agree to have their names recorded in a log the police
can search. The law also makes it illegal to buy more than 9 grams of
pseudoephedrine, or three 48-pill packages of cold medicine, in a 30-day
period. Children's remedies, gel-caps and liquid formulas are believed to
be more difficult to make into meth and are exempt from the restrictions.

Many consumers probably won't notice a big change. In recent months, large
retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart have moved pseudoephedrine remedies
behind pharmacy counters. Some other stores, especially in Jefferson and
Franklin counties, cooperate closely with police and already ask customers
to show identification.

But for meth cooks, the change is huge.

Despite increased public awareness of how pseudoephedrine has fueled an
explosion in meth production the Midwest, the medicine has been widely
available at gas stations, liquor stores and even head shops, where it's
sold alongside sundries like small pipes and cigarette papers.

The restrictions on pseudoephedrine are based on a 2004 law in Oklahoma.
Drug experts in that state credit the measure with reducing the number of
meth labs by more than 80 percent.

On the national level, a bill unveiled last month by Sens. Jim Talent,
R-Mo., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to limit access to cold medicines
containing pseudoephedrine is scheduled to be taken up by the Senate
Judiciary Committee today. The bill has bipartisan support.

Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, said that
state has saved money on jailing meth cooks and disposing of toxic
chemicals seized at meth labs. He said that meth-related burns at hospitals
have dropped significantly and that the number of children placed into
foster care after being exposed to meth chemicals has fallen by 75 percent.

But Woodward cautioned that there are other consequences. He said that
police now are seizing Mexican-made meth that has poured into the state and
that an ounce of meth that used to cost about $40 now sells for more than
$800. That has forced some meth users to quit and others to steal to
support their habit.

Last week, a Missouri task force composed of dozens of top meth
investigators met in Jefferson City to discuss how the law might change
their jobs. They warned that Mexican drug cartels that make a type of
crystallized meth called "ice" will try to supply thousands of Missouri
addicts who used to make their own drugs.

David Starbuck, who monitors Midwestern narcotics trends for the U.S.
Department of Justice in Kansas City, warned police at the meeting to
prepare for "an ice invasion."

He said: "The Mexican drug traffickers follow the markets, they watch the
news. . . . They know this is coming."

Cpl. Jason Grellner, commander of Franklin County's drug task force, says
his unit already is seeing an increase in the availability of ice. And he
said that the black market price for pseudoephedrine medication in Franklin
County already has reached $1 per pill and that it will go up significantly
after Friday.

"The Mexican drug organizations have to be looking at the (pseudoephedrine)
laws and grinning, knowing they're going to be paid handsomely," Grellner
said. "People are going to have to go back to buying drugs, and the people
who use meth don't have jobs. So what they're going to do is steal."

Grellner is the driving force behind the pseudoephedrine restrictions. In a
2002 raid, he suffered serious chemical burns to his throat and lungs after
inhaling too much anhydrous ammonia, a hazardous farm fertilizer used in
some meth recipes.

"I'll take the problems associated with drug dealers and cartels any day of
the week over the problems the go along with chemical exposure at a meth
lab," he said.

Last year, the Jefferson County drug task force raided more meth labs than
any other local police force in the nation. Sgt. Gary Higginbotham,
commander of the task force, fears that most of the county's drug cooks
will buy pills in Illinois, but he expects, over time, that most users will
turn to imported meth.

"I'd much rather deal with finding shipments of meth than going into a
lab," he said.

Sgt. Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol's drug and
crime division in Jefferson City, said he expects the patrol to refocus
attention on undercover operations targeting meth importers. He said
police, freed from the time-consuming task of dismantling small drug labs,
will have more time to work those cases.

"This is going to be a new phenomenon for us to tackle," Clark said. "But
we need to remember we've got a bad, bad meth problem in this state. And it
ain't going away Friday."

Philip Dine of the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau contributed to this report.