OFFICIALS HOPE LAW HINDERS DRUG LABS

Local drug enforcement officials hope a new law placing restrictions on the
sale of pseudoephedrine, a major component in the manufacture of
methamphetamine, will help curb the number of clandestine laboratories
operating in Montgomery County.

"It will hopefully slow down the production and limit the number of
clandestine labs we recover," said Lt. Phillip Cash, who heads up the
Montgomery County Special Investigation Unit. "There are still illicit ways
to get the product, but hopefully this will reduce the number of labs that
are operating."

The law, which went into effect Aug. 1, requires pharmacies and retail
stores selling cold medications containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine to
place the items behind the counter. It also limits the amount that can be
purchased at any one time to two packages or six grams and requires buyers
to be over the age of 16 and show valid photo identification. Pharmacies
also are required to keep a log of everyone who purchases the medications.

"As with any other records we keep, if they are subpoenaed or the police
come in with a warrant, we turn those records over," said Steve Oatman,
owner and pharmacist at Medicap Pharmacy on West Davis in Conroe. The law
requires pharmacists to keep the log books on file for two years. Oatman
said he doesn't think the new law will have much of an impact on smaller
pharmacies like his.

"It's more of a minor inconvenience for us," Oatman said. "We had to move
about 20 products behind the counter, and we have to keep the log book."
Oatman said it's unlikely methamphetamine producers frequent the smaller
pharmacies for their supplies.

"We've never had anyone come in and buy a really large amount or come back
repeatedly," Oatman said. "I think the larger retailers are more likely to
have that happen."

Several common decongestants in the pill form are affected by the law,
including Sudafed, Tylenol Sinus and Advil Cold and Sinus, Oatman said.
Changes in laws in the past have slowed the methamphetamine production
locally for a short period of time. But manufacturers have changed the
process to get around the laws.

"Several years ago, they made it so you couldn't buy red phosphorus without
a permit from DPS and they outlawed P2P; the number of labs in that state
of Texas dropped to about one a year," Cash said. "The manufactures
eventually changed to the pseudoephedrine method, and we started to see the
number of labs rise again."

Both red phosphorus and P2P were vital ingredients in the manufacture of
methamphetamine before the tough restrictions were placed on their sale.
While Cash said he hopes the law will slow the local production of
methamphetamine, he doesn't believe it will end the use of meth in
Montgomery County.

"Meth is already starting to flood the market in this area from Mexico,"
Cash said. "They're sending both Ice and regular meth up here." Ice is a
crystallized form of methamphetamine that is smoked. "Meth is the number
one drug problem in the United States right now, according to the (U.S.)
Justice Department," Cash said. "It's even more of a problem than marijuana."

In 2003, SIU detectives seized 224,555 grams of methamphetamine in
Montgomery County with an estimated street value of $5,256,788. In the same
year, detectives seized 383 pounds of marijuana with a street value of
$172,350. Even before the new legislation went into effect Aug. 1, there
were tough laws with strict penalties for the possession of large amounts
of pseudoephedrine for use in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Last
week, Drew Wayne Odem, a Montgomery County resident, was sentenced to 30
years in prison after being convicted of possession of certain chemicals
used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. The chemical Odem was found in
his possession, as well as a large amount of pseudoephedrine. "He was also
found in possession of a small amount of methamphetamine, which the jury
gave him a five-year prison sentence for," Cash said.