RENDELL AIMS TO CURB SALE OF METH INGREDIENTS

Gov. Ed Rendell wants to curb the production of methamphetamine in
this state by keeping a critical but legal chemical needed to make
the drug off pharmacy shelves.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett wants employees at hardware
stores, pharmacies and auto parts stores to keep an eye out for
people buying large quantities of cold medicines, drain cleaner, even
matches, which are all used in the crude production of meth.

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed the Combat Meth Act, which would
make it nearly impossible to buy large quantities of over-the-counter
cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, an ingredient used to make meth.

Armed with a somewhat basic recipe they culled from the Internet or
another meth producer, hopeful meth cooks set up shop in thousands of
basements across the country to make potent, highly addictive batches
of meth, law enforcement officials say.

These meth cooks take the ingredients in cold medicine and combine
them with a bevy of other toxic chemicals, such as brake cleaner,
paint thinner and fertilizer, to make the stimulant drug.

Lawmakers throughout the country hope that keeping pseudoephedrine
off the shelves will keep meth labs out of your neighborhood.

During this fall's legislative session in Harrisburg, Rendell hopes
to introduce legislation that will require anyone who wants to buy
pseudoephedrine to show identification and sign a purchase log. The
law would also prohibit anyone from buying more than 71/2 grams of
it, which is about 21/2 packs of cold medicine, per month.

"This is something that we have to face head-on and we have to be
aggressive," said Kate Philips, a spokeswoman for Rendell.

The federal Combat Meth Act is nearly identical to Rendell's
proposal. That bill would move drugs containing pseudoephedrine
behind the counter of all pharmacies in this country and limit
purchases of those medicines to about 100 pills per month.

Last year, Oklahoma was the first state to put pseudoephedrine pills
behind the counter. There's been a 90 percent drop in lab seizures
since the law went into effect, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Timothy Philpot, a prevention manager with the Bucks County Council
on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Inc., said limiting the amount of
pseudoephedrine a person can buy would be an appropriate start to
addressing the growing meth problem.

"This will only inconvenience people who are using these cold
medicines for illegitimate purposes," he said.

Still, Philpot said, a meth addict would find a way to get his hands
on the drug even without access to large amounts of pseudoephedrine.
"We can't legislate the problem away," he said.

This fall, Corbett's office also plans to launch a "Meth Watch"
program to educate store employees about the chemicals they sell that
can be used in meth production.

The hope is that store owners will report the purchase of large
quantities of products needed for meth production, said Nils
Frederiksen, a spokesman for Corbett.