U.S. SENATORS PUSH METH BILL

Proposal Restricts Sales Of Decongestants Nationwide

Iowa's two U.S. senators and eight other senators have joined forces behind
a proposal that would place hundreds of popular decongestant medicines
behind pharmacy counters to discourage domestic methamphetamine production.

The bipartisan group is supporting the tighter restrictions on
pseudoephedrine sales to control the spread of small, toxic meth-making
labs, which have become a major and costly problem throughout Iowa and much
of the country. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in the manufacture of meth.

"This critical legislation will help provide law enforcement officers with
the tools they need to fight meth across the state and keep Iowans
drug-free," Sen. Tom Harkin said Monday in a prepared statement.

Calling meth "the most deadly, fiercely addictive and rapidly spreading
drug the United States has known," the federal Combat Meth Act would
provide $30 million in additional funding to fight the drug. But its most
controversial feature will likely be the provision making pseudoephedrine a
controlled substance nationwide.

That measure - which mirrors a state bill supported by Iowa Gov. Tom
Vilsack and roughly 150 other groups - has met strong resistance from
retail groups who fear the restrictions will inconvenience consumers and
harm sales.

State Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, said Monday that a bipartisan group
of state lawmakers plans to meet with Vilsack today to discuss a compromise
statewide proposal that would keep pseudoephedrine available in a variety
of retail outlets. Under that proposal, sales of pseudoephedrine products
would be limited to two at a time statewide, products would have to be kept
behind store counters or in locked cabinets, and buyers' identification
would be entered into a computerized log that would flag excessive sales
for law enforcement.

Much of the fervor over clamping down on illicit pseudoephedrine sales
began last year, after a law passed in Oklahoma led to a dramatic decline
in the discovery of toxic labs there. Since then, federal and state
officials have debated how far they would have to go to achieve the same
results to reduce meth-making while hindering the public's access to the
medicines as little as possible.

As currently drafted, the Combat Meth Act would supersede any state
legislation passed this year - unless any state legislation enacted was
more restrictive, officials with Harkin said.

Baudler said that any proposals putting pseudoephedrine behind pharmacy
counters would not likely find enough support in the Iowa Senate. However,
he and Marvin Van Haaften, head of the governor's office of drug control
policy, both said they supported the national legislation that has that effect.

Beth Levine, a spokeswoman for Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, said the
federal bill is likely to be introduced later this week.

The bill's other major co-sponsors are U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., and Jim Talent, R-Mo.