HOUSE PASSES METH SITE NOTIFICATION BILL

The Measure Seeks To Protect Landlords And Help Police.

Venturing onto land sullied by a methamphetamine lab can be risky.

Meth makers often leave behind a poisonous stew of toxic chemicals, along
with contaminated "cooking" equipment used to concoct batches of the illegal
stimulant.

The Oregon House on Wednesday passed legislation seeking to protect
unwitting landlords from such dangers -- and possibly alert police to
suspected meth makers.

House Bill 2727 requires property owners to notify local law enforcement
before they inspect, clean up or simply visit drug-manufacturing sites
discovered by drug agents.

Sponsors say the bill has two aims.

One is to give police a chance to inform property owners -- many of whom say
they had no idea they rented to meth makers -- about the possible presence
of toxic materials.

The other is to give police a tool to keep tabs on property owners suspected
of producing methamphetamine.

In the absence of such notification, drug agents don't have any way, short
of round-the-clock surveillance, to monitor visits to already-busted lab
sites.

They worry that meth makers, in the midst of ongoing drug investigations,
could remove or destroy potential evidence.

"It's just a safeguard to make certain that law enforcement knows they have
someone entering the property. Then law enforcement makes a determination
whether they need to go out to the scene or not," said Rep. Floyd Prozanski,
D-Eugene, sponsor of the bill.

Prozanski described the bill as an effort to plug a loophole in state law.

"Right now, police don't get that notice," he said. "This will give law
enforcement a heads up."

HB 2727 now goes to the Senate.

Meanwhile, another meth-related bill calls for new restrictions to certain
chemicals used to produce methamphetamine.

House Bill 2034, expected to come before the House next week, prohibits the
sale of so-called precursor substances to minors. Those products include
ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which can be extracted from over-the-counter
cold remedies.

Despite some advances, no major changes in meth-fighting approaches are
expected during the current legislative session. In fact, drug-fighting
teams across the state are reeling from budget cutbacks.

Officials worry that scaled down drug enforcement will embolden meth makers,
who are constantly refining their "cooking" recipes and developing new ways
to produce abundant supplies.

In the Mid-Valley, drug agents have found big and small meth labs everywhere
from rural barns and urban apartments to motel room coffee pots and car
trunks.

"Right now, it's very mobile. They can actually have meth labs in vehicles
in transit," Prozanski said