MAKING METH HARD TO GET

In April 2004, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a tough law aimed at curbing
the exploding manufacture and abuse of methamphetamine.

The law restricts the sale of pseudoephedrine - a main ingredient in making
the highly addictive, destructive drug - to pharmacies. It also mandates
that pseudoephedrine must be stored behind the counter, and requires buyers
to show identification and sign a register to be able to buy no more than 9
grams of pseudoephedrine in a 30-day period. Earlier this year, Oklahoma
Gov. Brad Henry credited the law with reducing illegal meth lab busts in
that state by more than 70 percent.

In March, the Tennessee Legislature unanimously passed a law similar to
Oklahoma's. Tennessee's law also limits the sale of pseudoephedrine to
pharmacies. It requires ID, for a buyer to sign a register, and limits sales
to no more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine in a 30-day period. Retailers
without pharmacies had 24 hours to remove and stop selling products from
their shelves.

And Alabama?

Last year, the Legislature passed a law mandating that products with a
certain amount of pseudoephedrine had to be kept behind the counter of
pharmacies or retail stores. The law limits purchases to three packages of
up to 9 grams - in any single sale rather than over 30 days - without
requiring anyone to show ID or sign a register.

Alabama's law was a pale imitation of Oklahoma's. No wonder, then, that
making and abusing meth in Alabama, as detailed in Sunday's newspaper by
News staff writer Mike Cason, continues unabated.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration ranks meth as Alabama's No. 1
drug threat. The number of meth-related arrests increased thirty-fold
between 1999 and 2003, while treatment for meth abuse almost tripled from
2001 to 2004.

"The problem is already out of control," says state Attorney General Troy
King, who is organizing a task force to devise a plan to tackle meth.

The scourge is so bad in some parts of Alabama that crime labs can't keep
pace with the mounting evidence; the Department of Human Resources in some
counties is overwhelmed with foster care needs for children who lose their
parents to addiction; and waiting lists of people needing treatment for
addiction have grown long.

Several bills in the Legislature's current session would strengthen
Alabama's law. Yet none has passed as the session enters its final three
days. Part of that is because the state Senate spent more than a month
locked down in a fight over a campaign disclosure bill and budget battles.

The Legislature cannot allow the proposed bills to die, nor can it weaken
them to appease any interest groups concerned about restricting
pseudoephedrine sales. Lawmakers must move quickly to pass the strongest
meth-related bills they possibly can.