METH, OXYCODONE RESTRICTION BILLS ADVANCE IN SENATE PANEL

A Senate committee endorsed two bills Tuesday aimed at reining in drug
problems in Louisiana.

One would require pharmacies and other stores to keep a closer eye on
over-the-counter drugs that can be used to manufacture crystal
methamphetamine, an illegal and addictive stimulant.

The other would boost penalties for illegally possessing and distributing
the powerful painkiller oxycodone, sometimes called as "hillbilly heroin."

Both measures advance to the Senate floor for a vote.

The first, Senate Bill 24, would introduce a number of intense restrictions
on the ways drug stores can stock and sell products containing ephedrine and
similar compounds found in medications such as Sudafed.

Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek, told the committee that drug addicts and
pushers buy such seemingly innocuous over-the-counter drugs in large
quantities, cook them down, combine them with other ingredients and produce
crystal meth.

"Crystal meth is pretty much the drug of choice in Louisiana," Cain said.
"It destroys people."

The law would require retailers to keep drugs containing ephedrine or
similar compounds behind the counter or on a shelf that is either watched by
store staff or a security camera.

Consumers would be limited to three packages or nine grams per person per
purchase.

They would also have to show a photo ID and sign a log to receive the drug.
The log would be available to police.

The measure would not cover liquid and gel cap forms of ephedrine, and the
Department of Heath and Hospitals would have authority to exempt other forms
designed to prevent the drug's conversion into crystal meth.

Cain said more meth labs are cropping up as neighboring states crack down on
the illegal businesses and they migrate to Louisiana.

Sheriff Pop Hataway of Grant Parish said his department has busted 10 labs
in six months.

"You had 10 labs in your rural parish?" Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, asked
the sheriff at the committee meeting. "I hate to think what we have in our
areas."

The other measure, Senate Bill 226, would include the prescription drug
oxycodone in a category of drugs that includes cocaine and methamphetamines.

People found guilty of illegally distributing or manufacturing the
painkiller would be subject to much-stiffer penalties than under the current
law, said bill author Sen. Nick Gautreaux, D-Abbeville.

For instance, those found guilty of illegally producing oxycodone --
including those who alter its form to boost its potency -- would face
between 10 years and 30 years of hard labor and the possibility of a
$500,000 fine, he said.

The new punishment would trump the two-to-30-year sentence and $50,000 fine
in current law.

The committee heard from the mother of a high school student who died in
2003 from an overdose of oxycodone after injecting a crushed and boiled form
of the drug into his system.

Susan Cassidy of Erath said her son Ryan "was a good kid that made a bad
decision that evening."

From behind a row of family photos that Cassidy arranged at the witness
table, she said the man who provided her son access to the drug had a
previous oxycodone-related arrest on his record.

She told the committee that had more-stringent penalties been in place at
the time, her son might be alive today.