INDIANA CONGRESSMAN SAYS DESPITE PROGRESS, METH WON'T 'GO
AWAY'

An Indiana congressman who has led the U.S. House drug policy panel
said the country needs to be prepared for a long-term fight against
methamphetamine abuse even though the drug's spread seems to have slowed.

One frustration Republican Rep. Mark Souder said he has had was that
several states, including Indiana, had to pass laws restricting the
sale of pseudoephedrine - a key ingredient used to cook meth - before
Congress took action.

The federal Combat Meth Act took effect this year.

"It was exasperating at first at the political level that it took so
long to muster the will to try to address it," Souder said Thursday
to a group of government and police officials and prevention and
treatment specialists gathered at Indiana University-Purdue
University Fort Wayne for the first National Methamphetamine Awareness Day.

Souder said he believed meth has become known as a "bad drug"
following publicity campaigns that included graphic photos showing
the effects of the drug on the appearances and teeth of its users.

While national statistics show meth lab seizures had declined, Souder
said users now are turning to imported meth, which is cheaper in some
markets and more pure.

"Meth will not go away because meth has certain properties that other
drugs won't give you," said Souder, who will lose his chairmanship of
the drug policy subcommittee with the Democratic takeover of the
House in January.

A federal report says that the nationwide number of meth labs busted
or otherwise discovered by authorities dropped by 51 percent - from
6,472 in the first four months of 2005 to 3,160 in the same period of 2006.

Indiana, meanwhile, has recorded 23 percent fewer lab seizures since
the state's pseudoephedrine registry law took effect in July 2005,
said state police Sgt. Niki Crawford, head of the agency's meth
suppression unit.