STATE AIMS AT ILLEGAL DRUG MAKERS

Legislation would make it a felony to produce drugs in a home with children
or near a school.

Jefferson City - It currently is a felony in Missouri to sell drugs
close to schools or when children are present. It has not been,
however, a felony to manufacture drugs when young people are near.

State lawmakers are hoping to change that.

A provision contained in a bill pending before Gov. Bob Holden would
make it a felony - punishable by up to life in prison - to manufacture
drugs in a home with children or within one-half mile of a school.

The overall bill is designed to crack down on the methamphetamine
trade in Missouri, which is one of the national centers of meth production.

Law enforcement agencies seized 2,725 clandestine meth labs in
Missouri last year - the highest number in the nation and nearly one
out of every five labs found nationwide.

Specifically, the bill would make it a Class A felony to produce drugs
in a home where a child lives, or within 2,000 feet of a public or
private school, college, university or school bus. The only exception
would be for production of less than five grams of marijuana, which
would remain a Class C felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Carthage Police Chief Dennis Veach, a supporter of the legislation,
said there have been cases where drug manufacturers were producing
drugs in school zones but could not be charged with felonies.

"We thought getting this on the books was kind of a no-brainer," Veach
said. "Meth in particular is so volatile with the vapors and the
potential for an explosion. It can put kids at risk because a lot of
time the chemicals used are thrown in a ditch behind a house or in
front of a house."

The meth problem began several decades ago in California, which still
has some of the largest producers and the second-highest number of lab
seizures.

It spread east during the past decade or so and has taken root
especially in the Midwest, where rural areas provide cover for small,
makeshift labs that often produce a stinky, rotten-egg smell.

Sen. Gary Nodler, who originally sponsored the provision, said it also
has the backing of the Missouri Police Chiefs Association and the
Jasper County Task Force.

"I really didn't know that it wasn't already illegal. It sure looked
like a major loophole in the law," said Nodler, R-Joplin. "The
manufacture of the drug in a school zone actually seems to me to be a
worse offense than selling the stuff."

Nodler said in the past six months, police discovered meth lab
paraphernalia in a home a block from where the lawmaker lives in an
upscale Joplin neighborhood.

"This problem is not just in the ghetto," Nodler said. "These
operations can exist in any neighborhood in the country."

Nodler's proposal also has received support from the Missouri National
Education Association.

"The association believes this measure will be another step to improve
school safety and the school environment by helping to eliminate the
harmful presence of drug manufacturers and the resulting drug
distribution near our public schools and where out children live,"
said Otto Fajen, a lobbyist for the school group.

The overall bill, sponsored by Sen. John Cauthorn, R-Mexico, also
targets the sale of over-the-counter medications containing
pseudoephedrine, a decongestant that is a key ingredient in making
methamphetamine.

Under the bill, medicines with pseudoephedrine as the sole active
ingredient would have to be kept behind a counter or within 10 feet of
a cashier, or be tagged with electronic anti-theft devices.

The bill also would make it a felony to release anhydrous ammonia - a
fertilizer also used in meth production - into the atmosphere.