NEW LAW ADDS TOOLS IN FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

Sen. Harry Wiggins summed it up well: "We've got these drugs all over, so
we just have to keep plugging away and keep at it," the Kansas City
Democrat said after Gov. Bob Holden signed an anti-drug bill this week.

That's exactly what his bill does: It plugs holes.

It makes possession of ecstasy a crime on par with possession of heroin or
cocaine, fitting for a drug that can cause permanent changes in brain
chemistry and raise body temperatures to 108 degrees.

It makes GHB, the "date-rape" drug, a controlled substance, making it
illegal to sell or possess it. Previously, it had been illegal only to
produce it.

It makes delivery or possession of 24 grams or more of ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine evidence of intent to manufacture methamphetamine. While
this nudges at civil rights, there are few people with colds so bad they
need that much of the substances.

The bill also bans the sale of more than three packages at a time of cold
medicines that contain meth precursors. Most stores already had set similar
restrictions, so this merely puts in law what already was being practiced.

Will these changes automatically end the drug trade? No. But they give
police more tools in fighting the mind-altering substances. They give those
thinking of experimenting one more reason to skip it. They reaffirm a stand
against drugs that do so much damage to society.