COUNCIL ADOPTS METH ORDINANCE

CLEARLAKE -- The Clearlake City Council passed an ordinance at its
Thursday night meeting regulating the sale of products containing
pseudoephedrine, a primary ingredient in the production of methamphetamine.

The ordinance establishes criteria for over-the-counter sales of
medications such as cold medicine containing the drug, which city
leaders believe will help in the fight against illegal drugs.

On Sept. 13, the county's board of supervisors passed a similar
ordinance, the first of its kind in the state.

The ordinance calls for behind-the-counter retail of products
containing pseudoephedrine. It also imposes identification and
logging requirements for customers purchasing the products.

Under the ordinance, consumers will be required to provide photo
identification, current address and telephone number. Buyer's name,
date and quantity purchased are included in the logging requirements as well.

The written log of purchasers will be made available to the Lake
County Narcotic Drug Task Force or other local law enforcement
authorities pursuant to a lawful search warrant or subpoena issued by
judicial process.

Any person (described as owner, manager, proprietor or employee in
charge of any business selling any over-the-counter products
containing pseudoephedrine) found in violation of the ordinance shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not to
exceed $500 for each offense or by imprisonment in the county jail
for a period of no more than six months, or by both such fine or imprisonment.

Lake County and the city of Clearlake join the company of the state
of Oklahoma where a statewide ban exists for over-the-counter sales
of medications used to produce meth. However, in Oklahoma, the
medications are available only through a pharmacist.

Similar bills have been introduced at state and federal levels;
believing those attempts at legislation have been hamstrung by
special interests, District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington, who
spearheaded the regulations, brought the effort directly to local
jurisdictions.

"It's an issue that has brought us all together," Farrington told the
council on Thursday.

Farrington said legislators in several other states are looking to
establish similar bills. He also indicated that he will introduce the
regulations to Lake County's neighboring jurisdictions.

Limiting access to products containing pseudoephedrine will ideally
lessen the number of clandestine labs producing meth in Lake County.
These labs makeshift operations often erected in homes where there
are children present severe environmental hazards endangering the
health and safety of the community.

"We have the benefit of making homes safer, where children live
exposed to chemicals," said Clearlake Police Chief Bob Chalk on Sept.
8 when the ordinance was originally introduced at the Clearlake City
Council meeting. "Somebody's got to start some place and if you could
start here, it would really help the community."

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, clandestine
laboratories in California and Mexico are the primary sources of
methamphetamine available in the United States.

A report by the National Association of Counties, which was included
in an informational package provided by Farrington, states that close
to 60 percent of county officials reported that methamphetamine
represents their county's largest drug problem, with a reported
87-percent increase in meth-related arrests in the last three years.