BILLS WOULD CRIMP METH MAKERS' PLANS

Drugs Would Be Behind Counters; Buyers Would Need To Sign Form

Two Bills Would Crimp Makers' Plans

Under legislation proposed in Arnold, it won't be as easy to find relief
from the common cold. But backers of two bills say they will make it much
more difficult to buy and steal ingredients used to manufacture
methamphetamine.

Police say meth has been Jefferson County's top crime problem for years,
but stepped-up police efforts last year led to a record number of raids on
drug labs and seizures of meth and meth-related ingredients and equipment.
In fact, more meth-related arrests have been made in Jefferson County than
in several states combined in the eastern part of the United States.

Most drug experts agree that the easiest way to strike a blow against drug
production here is to make it harder for meth cooks to get key ingredients.
Arnold councilmen will consider bills that would do just that by requiring
stores to keep drugs containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine behind store
counters and by requiring a signature of a shopper who buys more than one
box of cold pills.

State law limits the amount of cold medicine customers can buy, and St.
Peters and St. Charles already have passed measures that force cold pills
behind counters. Some stores in Jefferson County voluntarily keep the drugs
out of easy reach to prevent meth addicts and makers from shoplifting the
valuable ingredient.

"We do not want the element that makes and takes methamphetamine in our
community," Arnold Mayor Mark Powell said. "And this is going to make those
people go elsewhere."

He said that the measures could be a nuisance to law-abiding citizens but
said, "A little inconvenience is worth doing something to stop Jefferson
County's being one of the country's top (meth-producing) counties."

Powell said that the City Council was unanimously behind the measure that
would move cold pills behind counters. Powell said the bill would probably
be approved by the council Thursday night. It's less clear whether the
council will approve the other anti-meth measure.

Phil Amato, a member of the council, is backing a bill that would require
any shopper to show identification and sign a form to buy more than one box
of pills containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. Police would be able to
review who is buying cold pills and find out whether meth suspects are
buying pills throughout Arnold.

Powell said he supported the measure, which would be among the toughest in
the state, but said that the council wouldn't vote on it until next month.

James Jones, commander of the Jefferson County drug task force and a
detective with the Arnold police, said it was essential for policymakers to
make it more difficult for meth cooks to get ingredients.

Jones said that police officers were doing their part in the county's drug war.

He said there were 166 meth raids and seizures in the county last year, up
from 86 in 2001. Arrests made by the task force also skyrocketed from 261
in 2001 to 893 last year. Jones said the majority of those arrests had been
meth-related.