MAKE METH INGREDIENTS PRESCRIPTION-ONLY

Methamphetamine, an illicit drug that is easily and cheaply produced,
remains a deeply entrenched problem in the Southern United States. The
2009 National Drug Intelligence Center's National Drug Threat Survey
showed 22.8 percent of state and local agencies in the Southeast
"reported meth as their greatest drug threat," second only to cocaine.

Former U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey called meth "one of the worst
drug menaces ever to threaten America, associated with paranoia,
stroke, heart attack, and permanent brain damage, leaving a trail of
crime and death." Despite its dangers, 10.4 million Americans age 12
and older have tried methamphetamine at least once, according to the
National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

The problem is only getting worse in South Carolina. A 2008 study by
Eric L. Sevigny, an assistant professor at the University of South
Carolina's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, showed that
methamphetamine use in the state had increased substantially since
2000. According to the study, 1,066 South Carolinians admitted
themselves into methamphetamine treatment centers in 2007, up from
just 126 in 2000.

The simplest solution to the meth epidemic in South Carolina and
across the country is to make pseudoephedrine a prescription-only drug.

On May 12 at the National Press Club in Washington, Obama Drug Czar
Gil Kerlikowske said, "I am unbelievably supportive of making
pseudoephedrine prescription-only."

Oregon, Mississippi and Missouri are the first states to try this
approach. Kerlikowske told Congress in April that the experiment in
Oregon has been "very encouraging." Buying pseudoephedrine for meth,
or "smurfing," has been greatly reduced in the four years since Oregon
enacted the law. Law enforcement officials made approximately half as
many arrests for methamphetamine manufacture in 2009 as in 2006, the
year the law took effect. It's a huge victory.

The citizens of South Carolina should support this measure as
well.

It's time South Carolina's lawmakers make their state's meth problem a
legislative priority. The best way to curtail meth use is to make sure
the only people getting pseudoephedrine, a key component of meth and
an ingredient found in most over-the-counter cold medications, are the
people who really need it.

In 2005, Congress got the ball rolling by imposing legislation that
mandated retailers require proof of identity for all purchasers of
pseudoephedrine. The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act also imposed
daily and monthly sales limits on pseudoephedrine.

The result was a confusing process for retailers and the arrests of
law-abiding people with no other motive but getting rid of their cold.
Shortly after the law took effect, an Illinois man was arrested for
going over the monthly legal limit of pseudoephedrine because he had
to buy enough Claritin-D for himself and his son. Arresting a man for
treating his allergies is not the intent of this law.

In 2005, South Carolina launched a "Meth Watch" program designed to
educate retailers on the illegal purchase of household items for the
production of meth. Employees were shown training videos about meth.
Store items used in meth were marked with special tags and monitored.
Unfortunately, because the training was voluntary, many retail
employees are still in the dark about the dangers of meth.

Oregon's law makes things a lot simpler for both law enforcement and
retailers: no prescription, no pseudoephedrine. There has been little
outcry from people with colds, Kerlikowske says, because people
"witness the impact it has had on reducing dangerous methamphetamine
labs and their production."

South Carolina, and Congress, should follow suit.

Mr. Battaglia, an assistant news editor for The Daily Gamecock and a
junior at USC, is interning as a policy analyst at Robert Weiner
Associates in Washington. Mr. Weiner was director of public affairs
for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, 1995-2000.