LIMITS BACKED ON COLD REMEDY

O'Malley Supports Anti-Meth Move

Mayor Martin O'Malley will announce his support today for a law to
limit the sales of cold medication used in methamphetamine production,
his gubernatorial campaign said yesterday.

At a speech at the Western Maryland Democratic Summit in Allegany
County today, O'Malley will unveil a seven-point plan to deal with the
drug, which appears to be increasingly prevalent in the state.

"As too many rural, and increasingly suburban and urban, communities
know, the production of methamphetamine is an emerging threat to our
families and our state," O'Malley said in a statement.

The campaign's announcement comes after an article published in The
Sun yesterday showed that state police discovered nine meth labs in
2005 - the most found by authorities in a single year.

Maryland's law is weaker than those in other states. Three young
people were arrested in Anne Arundel County for purchasing more than
100 boxes of pseudoephedrine-based cold medication with the intent to
resell it in Indiana - but prosecutors determined the three broke no
state laws. Campaign officials with Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who is
expected to seek re-election, and Montgomery County Executive Douglas
M. Duncan, who is vying for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination,
could not be reached for comment. In addition to backing a limit on
the amount of sales, as other states have done, O'Malley will propose
a system to encourage pharmacists to move certain cold medicines
behind the counter and to allow police to analyze data that could
identify spikes in sales.