INCONVENIENCE A SMALL PRICE TO PAY IN METH WAR

Buying Cold Medicine May Be a Hassle, but It Also Will Help

Buying cold medications is about to get a little harder for
law-abiding citizens. No problem -- so long as making methamphetamine
gets a whole lot harder for crooks.

This is something concrete we all can do to reduce meth's stranglehold
on our community. If it works, we should see less property crime,
lower costs for police and jails, fewer children in foster care, less
heartache all around.

At Gov. Ted Kulongoski's request, the state Board of Pharmacy last
week adopted an emergency six-month restriction on sales of Sudafed
and dozens of other non-prescription decongestants containing
pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in making meth.

When customers buy Sudafed by the cartful, they're probably not
nursing a brutal cold. So you have to wonder why it has taken so long
to put these tablets behind a counter and ask shoppers to show a photo
ID to purchase them.

One answer may be that people sincerely believe they're against meth
and the damage it causes to our communities. But when it comes to
waiting in line on a busy evening, with a stuffy nose and fussing
children, one's commitment to combatting drug use wears thin.

Grocers also worry that the new rules will mean extra expense for
record-keeping, and less convenience for customers.

Well, it will be less convenient to get decongestant tablets (although
liquid and gel-cap pseudoephedrine products, which are harder to
convert to meth, will remain on open shelves.)

Look at it this way: A relatively small percentage of our community
attended the community forum organized by the No Meth -- Not in My
Neighborhood task force. A minority have signed on to log activity at
suspected drug houses, to ride along with police, or to organize a
neighborhood get-together to learn more about meth.

However, many of us will buy cold medication this winter. By making it
harder for criminals to get pseudoephedrine, we'll contribute
something to the anti-meth fight.

This won't be a cure-all; meth makers will find ways to get around
these restrictions. But it's one good step toward making our
communities and state safer.

Add it to dozens of other steps that we should be taking as well. Not
just supporting cops, courts and jails, though we certainly should;
but seeing that addicts who want treatment can get it. Giving
child-welfare workers the resources to intervene early on children's
behalf. Eliminating poverty so hopeless that drug dealing by
comparison, looks good.

A tougher version of the Sudafed rule worked well for Oklahoma.
Assuming that Oregon's six-month trial lives up to expectations and
reduces the number of meth labs, it should be extended.