GET TOUGH ON METH LIMIT ACCESS TO KEY DRUG

Arizona lawmakers like to talk tough. Just about every campaign is full of
pledges to crack down on crime.

Now it's time to walk the talk: Get tough on meth labs.

Instead, they've waffled,

So far, the Legislature has failed to pass a proposal to put some
decongestants, which are key ingredients for cooking methamphetamine,
behind the pharmacy counter.

A bit of extra work for pharmacists. A minor inconvenience for customers.

Weigh the nuisance factor against this chilling statistic: Arizona leads
the nation in meth use among children between 12 and 17. According to U.S.
Surgeon General Richard Carmona, 7 percent of Arizona youth in that age
group admitted to having at least tried the drug, compared with a national
average of less than 3 percent.

The Legislature's hesitation is so galling that Phoenix is ready to act on
its own and adopt the restrictions itself. It would then lobby other cities
to follow suit.

We shouldn't be reduced to such a piecemeal approach, which will clearly
have limited success. Either meth labs will move into other areas or
addicts will simply log more miles.

The meth plague is driven in part by the easy availability of products used
to make the drug. A central ingredient the pill form of Sudafed and other
cold medications made with pseudoephedrine.

Proposed legislation would require customers to buy those medications
through a pharmacist, show identification and sign a logbook. A customer
could buy only a limited supply per month.

The restrictions would apply only to pseudoephedrine sold in pills. You
could still buy gel cap and liquid forms over the counter. You'd also be
free to buy a new formula of Sudafed that doesn't use pseudoephedrine.

No big deal.

And Arizona wouldn't be a trailblazer on this issue. Other states,
including Oklahoma and Tennessee, have adopted similar restrictions.

Yet pharmaceutical companies are resisting fiercely.

They favor a bill sponsored by state Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley,
that would limit the amount of cold medication a person could buy in a
single transaction and raise the penalties for producing and distributing meth.

This just doesn't go far enough. Making a batch of meth would just take
visits to more stores. And if the products stay on the shelves, they're
easy to steal.

Meth produces such psychotic behavior among addicts that stiffer penalties
aren't likely to have much impact.

Besides the tragedy of how addiction devastates individuals and their loved
ones, we have other compelling reasons to take every measure to fight meth:

Crime. Meth figures in a huge proportion of crime. Users steal to get money
to buy meth. On a high, they can become violent, paranoid and abusive. A
third of male adults arrested in Maricopa County in 2002 tested positive
for meth.

Toxic materials. Meth labs are hazardous waste sites that take thousands of
dollars to clean up. The fumes don't stay put: They can spread poisons
through an entire apartment complex.

Endangered children. Kids were found in about a third of Arizona's 102 meth
lab raids last year. Last month, deputies found three children, from 7 to
12 years old, at a home east of Mesa where meth was being made. One child
complained of a fever and headache, symptoms of chemical poisoning.

There's one last-ditch chance this year to attack meth at its roots. Rep.
Tom O'Halleran, R-Sedona, used a strike-everything bill, HB1483, to revive
legislation restrictions on pseudoephedrine sales.

Legislators, let's get tough.