EDWARDS PROMISES ACTION TO FIGHT PRODUCTION OF METHAMPHETAMINE

Police Would Get More Funding, He Says

Police narcotics units would get more money and the sale of cold pills
would be more tightly regulated under a John Kerry administration, his
running mate said Monday while campaigning in Missouri and Iowa.

In a conference call with reporters, Sen. John Edwards called
methamphetamine "a cancer on rural areas and small towns" and vowed to
fully fund several police assistance programs that Edwards claims
President George W. Bush is trying to slash.

Edwards also said the Democratic ticket would add about $20 million in
aid that targets meth "hot spots."

The plan should sound familiar to police in Missouri, the nation's
leader in methamphetamine labs. Federal aid and limitations on
pseudoephedrine sales have been standard for years.

Edwards' announcement underscores the prevalence of meth in several
political battleground states including Missouri and Iowa, where he
announced the plan. He also attended a rally in Kansas City later Monday.

In Missouri, police received about $5 million this year in federal
funding for anti-meth programs. That money has gone to hire and train
scores of state and local narcotics officers and pay for the safe
removal of toxic chemicals seized at meth labs.

Edwards called for a federal law that would make it illegal for stores
to sell more than two boxes of over-the-counter medications containing
pseudoephedrine, a meth ingredient found in more than 80 remedies.
Missouri reduced its limit on purchases of cold pills from three boxes
to two last year, but the Franklin County drug investigator who wrote
the law says it isn't a solution to the meth problem.

The two-box limit does not stop drugmakers from shopping at dozens of
stores to buy thousands of pills, said Cpl. Jason Grellner. He
supports what Oklahoma did when it adopted a law that allows the pills
to be sold only at pharmacies and only if customers agree to have
their purchases and identities recorded in a database open to police.

Oklahoma officials say the number of meth labs in the state has
dropped by more than half since the law took effect.

Edwards calls the Oklahoma law "a thoughtful approach to the problem"
but said a federal version isn't needed. Nick Gess, a senior policy
adviser for Kerry and Edwards, said the campaign preferred "limited
regulation, maximum result."