BILL COULD STYMIE METH COOKS

Senate Proposes New Procedure For Buying Some Cold Remedies

Washington -- Cold and sinus medicines such as Sudafed would be moved
behind the pharmacy counter under new Senate legislation proposed Wednesday
to make it tougher for illicit drugmakers to buy pseudoephedrine, a nasal
decongestant that is a key ingredient in producing methamphetamines.

Sponsors of the bill, including California Democratic Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, insist the legislation would discourage meth "cooks" from
purchasing or stealing boxes of cold medicine from pharmacies and grocery
stores to extract the pseudoephedrine, which is used to make the highly
toxic and addictive drug.

"The most effective thing we can do to make meth harder to manufacture is
to put cold medicine behind the counter at pharmacies and require
purchasers to sign for it and show photo ID," Feinstein said at a news
conference Wednesday.

But critics say the legislation is an overreaction to the nationwide rise
in the illegal manufacture, trafficking and use of methamphetamines, also
known as speed, crystal, crank or ice.

Drugstore chains are warning that the legislation could lead to longer
lines at pharmacies and additional hassle for pharmacists, who would be
required to check IDs and keep a log of everyone who buys
pseudoephedrine-based products to help law enforcement track drug traffickers.

Major drug companies, which have opposed similar legislation in the past,
warn such a change would irritate consumers, who are accustomed to quick
and easy access to cold and allergy remedies such as NyQuil, Tylenol Flu
and Claritin-D.

"It's especially tough in rural areas, where not all pharmacies are open
all night," said Elizabeth Assey, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Healthcare
Products Association, the trade association that represents producers of
over-the-counter drugs.

Under the bill, pseudoephedrine would be listed as a Schedule 5 narcotic,
which can only be sold by a pharmacist or pharmacy technician. Stores
without pharmacists -- including most convenience and grocery stores, as
well as hotel and airport gift shops -- would no longer be able to sell
many popular brands that use the nasal decongestant.

Supporters of the measure point out that Oklahoma has experienced an 80
percent reduction in the number of meth lab seizures since the state passed
similar legislation last year. But some meth cooks in Oklahoma are beating
the state law by driving to nearby border states, which do not limit
pseudoephedrine sales, authorities say.

"It's the reason that convinced me that we need a federal approach," said
Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., the chief co-sponsor of the measure.

California is a major hub of methamphetamine production -- accounting for
80 percent of the meth sold in the United States last year -- with much of
the illegal manufacture taking place in rural counties along the Interstate
5 corridor between Bakersfield and Redding, law enforcement authorities say.

Several states, including California, have passed laws limiting the amount
of pseudoephedrine that can be sold a one time. California limits purchases
to no more than three packages or nine grams of pseudoephedrine.

However, some meth cooks have responded with a tactic they call "smurfing":
driving from store to store and buying a few boxes of medicine at a time
until they have enough to produce a batch of the potent drug.

Lt. Marvin Harper, who oversees the major narcotics task force for
Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties, said the Senate measure would
not help much with the "super labs" -- major methamphetamine facilities
that produce most of the nation's supply and require large quantities of
ingredients. Most of those labs buy ephedrine or pseudoephedrine in bulk
from suppliers in countries such as Canada, China and Mexico, Harper said.

But Harper said the bill could help counter the small-scale producers --
"we call them the Beavis and Butt-head labs" -- who brew the synthetic drug
in their homes or cars and are more likely to use store-bought ingredients.

"What this will do is make it tougher for the low-level meth user, who is
cooking for his own use, which is a gram or two at a time," Harper said.
"If they can't purchase meth for whatever reason, and they can't
manufacture their own, then you cut down the demand of the user, and you
cut down on the trade."

Methamphetamines are powerfully addictive neurotoxins that can severely
damage the central nervous system, leading to dangerously high body
temperatures, cardiac arrhythmia and strokes. Even small-scale labs produce
toxic and sometimes explosive chemical byproducts, which pollute the
environment and pose a public health risk in many communities.

Major drug companies are urging lawmakers to consider less drastic options,
such as limiting the number of packages of medicine with pseudoephedrine
that consumers can buy at one time, and increasing criminal penalties for
those caught producing and selling meth.

But Feinstein said she is simply trying to close a loophole in a previous
law. In 1999, Congress limited purchases to no more than 9 grams of
pseudoephedrine -- a measure fought bitterly by drug companies. But the law
left open an exemption for medicines sold in vacuum-sealed "blister packs."
The Drug Enforcement Agency has reported that meth cooks have exploited the
loophole by buying the blister packs in bulk and even devising special
machines to open them.

The new legislation would allow an exemption for communities, especially in
rural areas without 24-hour pharmacies, to sell a limited amount of
medicine with the decongestant over the counter, Feinstein said.

Although previous measures have stalled because of opposition from
drugmakers, the new legislation appears to have significant bipartisan
support. The lawmakers attending Wednesday's news conference included Sens.
Norm Coleman, R-Minn.; Mark Dayton, D-Minn.; Charles Grassley, R-Iowa;
Gordon Smith, R-Ore.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Ken Salazar, D-Colo.

"This is a scourge on America that we have to deal with -- and we have to
deal with it now," Salazar said.