METHCHECK DOES NOT STOP 'SMURFING'

I am writing in response to Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain's
editorial in which he suggests that Kentucky's methamphetamine problem
is best combated by the continued use of the MethCheck network which
is now known as the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx). While
MethCheck might be a good tool to block or limit the sale of
pseudoephedrine to individuals who are attempting to purchase more
than the legal limit, it does not stop "smurfing." Smurfing is when an
individual purchases the legal limit of pseudoephedrine and in turn
sells it to a third party with the full knowledge that it will be
utilized in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

There are two sides to every issue and, unfortunately, the legitimate
consumer is caught in the middle. The pharmaceutical industry is
making over $800 million a year from the sale of pseudoephedrine and
it is this same industry that is paying for the NPLEx system that
Sheriff Cain lauds as the best method to rein in our methamphetamine
problem. Their intentions do not serve the best interest of the
Commonwealth and of the communities and families already devastated by
the scourge of meth.

In over 46 years of law enforcement, I have not seen a more
destructive and addictive drug than methamphetamine. We had no meth
problem until 1976, when against the advice of the Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Food and Drug Administration removed
pseudoephedrine from prescription status to over the counter status.
Since MethCheck started in 2008, we have continued to see a rise in
meth labs in Kentucky. A record year was seen in 2010 when over 1,000
meth labs were discovered and dismantled. These numbers speak for
themselves and they do not accurately reflect the true extent of the
methamphetamine problem in Kentucky. If anything, law enforcement is
undercounting the actual number of labs present throughout the
Commonwealth. In addition, methamphetamine costs our state and local
governments over $48 million annually. These labs create toxic waste
that contaminates homes and the children in them. During 2009, 111
children were contaminated in homes that contained meth labs and a
22-month old toddler tragically died after ingesting drain cleaner
that was being used to manufacture meth.

It is therefore apparent that the only way to prevent the continued
destruction caused by meth is to schedule pseudoephedrine. Oregon was
the first state to do so and the results have been phenomenal. Oregon
had the same issues that we have and, in 2005, they made
pseudoephedrine a schedule III drug. In 2010, they discovered 10 labs,
none of which had pseudoephedrine purchased in the state of Oregon.
Mississippi is the second state to schedule pseudoephedrine, with the
new law taking effect on July 1, 2010, and they have seen a 68 percent
reduction in meth labs in just five months.

Kentucky Senator Tom Jensen has filed Senate Bill 45, a very effective
piece of legislation that returns pseudoephedrine to a schedule IV
drug. The pharmaceutical industry and Sheriff Cain would have you
think that this legislation would not impact the meth problem and
would have a harmful effect on the legitimate consumer, whereas Oregon
and Mississippi have shown that scheduling is the only way to end the
meth problem. The legitimate consumers in both states have seen little
inconvenience with respect to their access to pseudoephedrine. The
time is now to end the methamphetamine problem in Kentucky and I urge
all of you to contact your state senator and representative and urge
them to support Senate Bill 45. We do not want to find more meth labs;
we want to eliminate meth labs.

C. Frank Rapier,

Director-Appalachia HIDTA

London