RULES ON COLD-PILL SALES SLOW METH LABS, ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS

BISMARCK, N.D. - Requiring North Dakotans to show identification to buy
cold pills has throttled the growth of illegal methamphetamine labs, which
need the pills to make the illegal drug, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said.

"This is the first truly good news on the meth-lab front that we've seen
since the epidemic first started in North Dakota eight years ago,"
Stenehjem said Thursday.

In recent years, the Legislature has imposed a number of restrictions on
buying cold remedies that contain pseudoephedrine, a compound that is
distilled to make methamphetamine. Meth is a toxic, highly addictive stimulant.

Pseudoephedrine is a common ingredient in cold pills. This year, lawmakers
agreed to require merchants who sell cold pills with pseudoephedrine to ask
customers for identification, and write down the buyer's name, address,
birth date and driver's license number.

The law took effect June 1. During the following three months, authorities
discovered 23 crude labs that had been set up to make the drug, a 64
percent decrease in the number of labs that were discovered during June,
July and August of 2004.

In August 2004 alone, law officers shut down 16 methamphetamine labs,
according to Bureau of Criminal Investigation statistics. Last month,
police found only four.

Stenehjem attributes the steep decline to the new customer ID law. After
the Iowa Legislature approved a similar law, authorities recorded a similar
drop in the number of meth lab arrests, the attorney general said.

"Citizens of North Dakota have willingly accepted the minor inconvenience
in purchasing cold medicine, and in exchange, they're helping to alleviate
this epidemic in North Dakota," he said.

Small, local meth labs account for only about 15 percent of the drug's
North Dakota supply, the attorney general said. However, meth lab arrests,
and cleaning up the toxic sites, take up a great deal of law enforcement
time, he said.

The new law also required merchants to keep closer watch on their stock of
cold medicines by moving them behind the counter, installing a video
surveillance system or keeping only single package of particular brands on
public display.

Only people who are at least 18 years old may buy cold pills with
pseudoephedrine, and they are limited to buying about 64 pills on a single
trip to the store.

Stenehjem said he is supporting federal legislation that would limit
pseudoephedrine sales to pharmacies, with exemptions for rural areas that
do not have drugstores.