STATE LEGISLATURE MUST FIGHT PORTABLE METH LABS

A recent upswing in methamphetamine-lab activity means law-enforcement
officers will have to work all the harder to keep up the progress
they've made against the drug in recent years. State legislators
should help by tightening the law on meth labs.

Rep. Craig Horn, a Republican from Union County, told the Journal this
week that a bipartisan group of legislators is working with law
enforcement on legislation to battle portable labs, and they hope to
soon get it passed.

That legislation can't come soon enough. Law-enforcement officers
discovered 46 meth labs in February, matching the previous record
month of April 2005. What's causing the problem is a portable method
for cooking methamphetamines. The "shake-and-bake" method of cooking
meth, or "one-pot labs," can be utilized in parking lots, hotel rooms
and even duffel bags using a 2-liter bottle, The Associated Press
recently reported. But as the AP noted, the small size doesn't
diminish the danger that the leftover sludge and ammonia-smelling gas
poses to officers or addicts.

A few years ago, we joined other editorial boards in pushing for the
current law that requires stores to keep the main ingredient used in
meth, pseudoephedrine, behind the counter. That law also requires
consumers to register when they buy such drugs, usually in the form of
nasal decongestants. But some meth producers are apparently getting
around the law by hiring people to buy the medicine.

The law should be tightened through any measures possible, including
tough penalties for those who buy the pseudoephedrine for meth makers.
The state cannot afford to get behind in that battle.