SENATE COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER FEINSTEIN'S ANTI-METH PROPOSAL

Washington -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein's decadelong effort to crack down
on the nation's growing methamphetamine epidemic is expected to take
a major step forward Thursday when the Senate Judiciary Committee
plans to consider her legislation to remove many cold medicines from
store shelves and put them behind pharmacy counters as a way of
limiting their sales and theft.

Feinstein's bill, which she is co-sponsoring with Sen. Jim Talent,
R-Mo., is patterned after new laws in Oklahoma and Iowa. It has
gained momentum because many of the nation's biggest retailers have
already limited sales of the medications as the human toll of
methamphetamine abuse has spread from California's rural areas and
the Midwest to other regions of the country.

"Meth has become a scourge upon our land," Feinstein said as she and
Talent and two other co-sponsors spoke to reporters Tuesday in the
Capitol. "I'm ashamed to admit that California is the source for
methamphetamine and of the big super-labs." The state supplies an
estimated 80 percent of the highly addictive meth used across the
country, and Feinstein's efforts have garnered support from much of
California's law enforcement community.

The bill would require that any over-the-counter cold or sinus
medications that contain pseudoephedrine -- a nasal decongestant used
in cooking methamphetamine -- be sold only by a pharmacist or a
pharmacist technician. Purchasers would have to show identification
and sign a register.

The legislation would also set a limit on an individual's purchases
of drugs containing pseudoephedrine to 7.5 grams a month, or about
250 pills, capsules or caplets. Retailers would be required to send
computer records of purchases to state databases, to ensure that no
individual exceeds the purchase limit.

Stores that don't have a pharmacist would still be allowed to sell
the medications under the bill by requiring the Drug Enforcement
Administration and the states to establish a registration requirement
for store personnel.

To help combat the meth problem, the bill sets up a national meth
treatment center to research the best ways of helping addicts kick
their habits.

"This is the single worst drug threat that any of us have confronted
in our lifetimes," said Talent.

Feinstein cited national data showing that the number of meth labs
raided jumped to 15,994 in 2004 from 7,438 in 1999. In San Francisco,
the use of meth and the subsequent loss of inhibitions has led to a
spike in sexually transmitted diseases and HIV among gay men, health
officials say. In San Diego, 36.2 percent of the men arrested in 2003
tested positive for meth in their systems, according to the National
Institute on Drug Abuse.

The sponsors, who introduced the current bill last January, have
since strengthened the proposal to meet the standards set in Iowa,
which has the nation's toughest law on the issue. But they also have
tried to ease concerns of convenience store owners, who said the
earlier proposal put them at a competitive disadvantage by allowing
only stores with pharmacists to sell the drugs.

The amendments and the changing environment seem to have lessened
some opposition. The National Association of Drug Chain Stores has
endorsed the revised bill. Some of the biggest chain stores,
including Walgreens, Target, Albertson's, Rite-Aid, Longs Drugs and
Safeway, also back it and have voluntarily acted to limit sales of
the medications, which include such well-known names as Sudafed and
Tylenol Sinus.

Talent said that Pfizer Inc., the maker of Sudafed, has endorsed the new bill.

The National Association of Convenience Stores, whose members don't
have pharmacists on staff, still opposes the bill. The group is wary
of the amended bill's provision that the sponsors say would allow
them to sell the medications.

"They should treat all retailers the same," said Lyle Beckwith, the
association's senior vice president for government relations. "If the
product is dangerous, make it illegal. If it's safe, allow people to
sell it responsibly and focus your efforts on the bad guys."

Feinstein first introduced anti-meth legislation a decade ago, aimed
at cracking down on mass sales of the precursor drugs used in meth.
In 1999, Congress passed legislation limiting sales of medication,
but it had an exemption for medication sold in blister packs, which
today means just about all the drugs. The sponsors say that has
created the need for the current bill.

Countering an epidemic

The legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Jim Talent, would:

- -- Require over-the-counter drugs containing pseudoephedrine, the
active ingredient in sinus medication such as Sudafed, to be sold
only from behind a pharmacy counter.

- -- Limit an individual's purchase of products containing
pseudoephedrine to about 250 pills per month.

- -- Require that purchasers show identification and sign a register.

- -- Set up a national methamphetamine treatment center.