METH FIGHT STARTS AT DRUG COUNTER

For the past 10 years, the increased usage and manufacturing of
methamphetamine has been a serious drain on law enforcement's
resources and time. The drug, a cheap cocaine if you will, is firmly
rooted in our state, particularly in the Central Valley, which is
considered the capital of meth manufacturing.

Now, after flourishing under the radar screen of many people and
politicians, meth has been placed in the spotlight in recent weeks and
now is being addressed by Congress.

The new offensive in the war against methamphetamine is happening down
at your neighborhood drug store.

Believe it or not, the cold medicines that we buy to battle coughs,
runny noses and allergies are at the heart of the war against meth.
Unlike its intended use, medication such as Sudafed is being used as a
key ingredient to manufacture methamphetamine.

Cold medications such as Sudafed contain pseudoephedrine, a main
ingredient in meth. Meth makers buy the common cold medicines as a
relatively cheap and easy way to make the drug, which many in law
enforcement, including Butte County Sheriff Perry Reniff, see as the
No. 1 enemy in the country's war on drugs.

Methamphetamine can be cooked from easily available chemicals, such as
cold medications, in kitchens, motel rooms and in orchards. A recent
news report by The Associated Press stated that this year alone, 850
labs have been seized in California.

At those meth lab sites, which require expensive hazardous material
teams to clean up, narcotics officers typically will find bottles of
cold medicine dispersed throughout, with the number of bottles
numbering in the dozens and even hundreds.

The meth cookers use the cold medication in their brew, boiling it
down to the base that gives meth its crystal kick, a combination of
pseudoephedrine and other chemicals.

California already limits the number of boxes of cold medicine
containing pseudoephedrine that a person can buy. California Sen.
Dianne Feinstein earlier this month announced federal legislation that
would force pharmacies and stores to place non-prescription cold
medicine behind the pharmacy counter. A photo ID would be required to
purchase the medicine and the amount to be purchased would restricted,
as well.

Her bill, however, comes weeks after many large retailers, including
Target and Wal-Mart, announced they would voluntarily place cold
medicines behind the pharmacy counter. We applaud the action of both
stores.

We are disappointed that the makers of these medicines are fighting
the proposal. The fact that the drug industry doesn't acknowledge the
connection from the manufacturing of methamphetamine through the sale
of its own cold medicines to meth cookers is not ignorance, but rather
selectively sticking one's head in the sand when profits dictate.

We hope Feinstein's legislation is passed by Congress and we hope that
the voluntary actions of Target and Wal-Mart to restrict the sale of
cold medications are copied. This problem has been ignored for too
long.