BILL TO BOOST METH PENALTIES FAILS TEST

SACRAMENTO -- Legislation that would take a harder line against people
found with methamphetamine ingredients failed its first test Tuesday.

The bill by Assemblyman Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, faltered on a 3-2 vote in
the Assembly Public Safety Committee, one vote short of passage. The
legislation is due to be reconsidered later this month.

Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are ingredients in nasal decongestants and
asthma medications. They also are needed to manufacture methamphetamine.
Drug cooks acquire huge amounts of ephedrine- containing pills and inhalers
from foreign and domestic suppliers and then extract the meth-making
components.

Under existing law, a person found with large amounts of ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine faces misdemeanor charges. Cogdill's bill would make
possessing a half-pound or more a felony. The legislation also would
increase fines and prison terms for extracting ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.

Its failure Tuesday reflected concerns by some safety panel members that
making it a felony to have meth ingredients -- without authorities having
to show that the person intended to make the drug -- could lead to
prosecution of innocent people.

Additionally, the safety committee is controlled by Democrats. Most bills
by GOP lawmakers stalled in the committee Tuesday.

"We thought we had the votes there," Cogdill said afterward. One of the
bill's co-authors, San Jose Democrat Manny Diaz, a member of the committee,
did not vote for the bill.

"I'm not sure at this point what it is he wants to see. The whole thing
kind of hit us flat-footed," Cogdill said.

A Diaz spokeswoman said later that the lawmaker wants to work with
committee staff and Cogdill on changing the bill.

Cogdill's measure is one of the few meth-related pieces of legislation
introduced this year. In 2001, methamphetamine was the subject of several
bills.

Attorney General Bill Lock-yer, a Democrat, and state law enforcement
associations have come out in support of the bill.

Cogdill referred to one bust that yielded 3,700 decongestant tablets. "This
would be enough pills to cure the allergy problem of an entire county," he
said.

Valley law enforcement officials, who helped Cogdill craft the bill, said
they need a way to prosecute people who, they contend, clearly are involved
in the meth trade.

In March 2000, authorities stopped a sport utility vehicle in Tulare County
and found a duffel bag with more than 250 pounds of pseudoephedrine in it.
But the driver, a Los Angeles resident, denied knowledge of the pills.
Around the same time, Stanislaus County authorities stopped a vehicle that
contained more than 160 pounds of pseudoephedrine.

The pseudoephedrine in both vehicles came from a Salida supplier. All the
people involved were charged with conspiracy to make methamphetamine.

But a state Supreme Court decision requires that prosecutors prove that
defendants intended to make methamphetamine. There was no evidence of
intent in the cases two years ago, and the felony charges were dropped.

"Once these pills are removed from their over-the-counter containers and
placed in bulk, in garbage bags, to the extent that we had in this case,
this pseudoephedrine was going to be used for evil purposes," said Steve
Jacobson, an investigator in the Stanislaus County district attorney's office.

Jacobson said meth manufacturers often buy pseudoephedrine tablets in bulk
on the black market in Canada and elsewhere or they send several people to
stores to each buy the maximum number of packages of decongestant -- three
per person -- permitted under the law.

A typical ephedrine tablet is about one-third ephedrine. The rest is
filler. A gram of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine can produce three- quarters
of a gram of methamphetamine.

Also Tuesday, the Public Safety Committee blocked Cogdill- authored
legislation to increase penalties for possessing weapons of mass destruction.

The bill is part of a Republican anti-terrorism package. Only one of the
package's four bills -- legislation to increase penalties for money
laundering -- emerged from the committee Tuesday. The others are up for
reconsideration.