COLD-MED LIMITS DENTING METH LABS

The number of methamphetamine labs seized in Indiana dropped
significantly in the year after the state restricted the sale of
products used to make the drug.

Officials say the new law had an immediate effect by making it more
difficult for meth manufacturers to obtain cold and allergy medicines
containing pseudoephedrine.

Lab seizures dropped about 24 percent, according to the Indiana
Criminal Justice Institute.

Indiana's law took effect July 1, 2005. In the fiscal year that
followed - from July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006 - police
discovered 846 labs, compared with 1,109 in the previous fiscal year.

Jason Barclay, chairman of the institute's board, said other factors
could play a role in the decline. He said the state did not do a good
job tracking lab seizures in the past because not all local agencies
reported their numbers.

"Now we have a system in place where we track every lab and every
arrest," Barclay said. The numbers are "headed in the right direction."

A comparison by month shows an even greater decline, Barclay said.

Last month, the state saw 49 meth lab seizures. In June 2005, there
were 86 seizures, and a year earlier, 92.

Meth-related offenses, other than lab seizures, statewide fell to 29
last month, compared with 79 in June 2005 and 84 in June 2004, Barclay said.

The leading county in northeast Indiana, Noble, reported 47 meth lab
seizures from January to December 2005. Of those, 36 seizures
occurred before the pseudoephedrine law took effect.

DeKalb County, also one of the highest-ranking counties last year in
lab seizures, saw a similar drop. Of its 22 seizures, 18 occurred
before the pseudoephedrine law was implemented.

Other leading counties, such as Bartholomew and Marshall, saw
increases after the law took effect.

Local data for this year were not immediately available.

The new law requires those buying pseudoephedrine products to sign
logs and produce identification, which allows authorities to track
down people who are going from store to store or returning day after
day to try to beat the limits on purchases.

Those logs made a difference last month in Noble County, where an
observant retailer had reported to police a man making numerous
purchases of pseudoephedrine. The reports led to felony meth-related
charges brought against a Brimfield man.

State police officers on the state's Methamphetamine Suppression
Unit, formed this year, said at the time that checking the logs is a
time-consuming process that involves a lot of travel, as the logs
must be kept by retailers.

That also may change soon, Barclay said. The state hopes to implement
an electronic system for recording pseudoephedrine purchases
statewide. Another Web-based database is designed to collect
information when a meth lab is dismantled, allowing for real-time
reporting of numbers.

Customers sometimes are frustrated by the restrictions and the
identification requirements for purchases, said pharmacist Ron West,
who owns Hancock's Drug Store in Scottsburg, about 30 miles north of
Louisville, Ky.

He said sales of pseudoephedrine products have dropped since he
started keeping them behind his counter.

"People don't want to have to ask for them," he said. "Especially
during the flu and cold season, people don't want to go through the
hassle or don't want to bother us."

Keith Cain, the sheriff in southwest Indiana's Daviess County, said
prosecutors have indicted 14 people who were discovered because of
information found in the logs. Some of those investigations led to
the discovery of working meth labs, but other people were stopped
before they could begin making the drug.

"That speaks well to the intent of the statute," Cain said. "It's
meant to provide a proactive response."

Angela Mapes of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.