COORDINATING THE FIGHT AGAINST METH

The Issue: Proposed Combat Meth Act Bill Goes To The Senate

Our view: This legislation is needed to end the destination state game.

Methamphetamine is fast becoming the most serious drug problem our
society has ever known - just ask people in the neighboring state of Iowa.

In Iowa last year, 1,472 meth labs were broken up, 62 percent of the
new inmates taken into the state prison system were for meth-related
offenses, and that state is now caring for more than 1,000 children
whose meth-addicted parents could no longer care for them.

The fact that this drug is manufactured (oftentimes with items you
pick up at the local drugstore) has left law enforcement in a
vulnerable position. The Illinois Controlled Substances Act has
always been geared to prosecute those who abuse or deliver drugs, not
manufacture them.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan took a big step in the right
direction earlier this year by rewriting the state's criminal codes
to give law enforcement more power to protect rural communities
against meth cooks. Senate Bill 562 also brought all meth-related
laws together under one section of the Illinois Criminal Code, making
it easier for law enforcement and the judicial system to deal with
the scourge of meth labs.

Most of the heavy lifting in fighting meth production has been done
by the states. In fact, the new federal budget proposes a 50 percent
reduction in meth-related law enforcement and the environmental
clean-up it necessitates. Cleaning up a single meth lab is dangerous
and can cost up to $150,000. Every pound of the drug leaves behind 5
to 6 pounds of toxic waste.

Forcing the states to handle the meth problem has created a mish-mash
of law revisions that have taken far too long to come to fruition. It
has set into motion a frantic race to avoid becoming a destination
state for meth producers.

In April 2004, Oklahoma became the first state to classify cold
medications containing pseudoephedrine (a key ingredient in cooking
meth) Schedule V drugs thus putting them behind the counter. Only
pharmacies can sell the cold pills, and buyers must sign a logbook
and show identification. Individuals can only buy 9 grams of the
pills during the course of a month. While this action brought out
some consumer and Big Pharma lobbyists, it's been hard to argue with
the results. Already overtaxed pharmacists now have more work and
consumers are inconvenienced, but Oklahoma has seen a 80 percent drop
in meth lab seizures.

This week the Senate will grapple with national legislation that is
modeled after the Oklahoma bill. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo. and Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. have driven the bipartisan SB-103
otherwise known as the Combat Meth Act.

This bill would put pseudoephedrine behind the counter and give law
enforcement more resources to go after meth cooks, protect children
of meth and rehabilitate their parents. We support this legislation
because it's not enough to chase meth producers from state to state,
we want them out of our country.

Let's hope that legislators in our nation's capital have finally
realized that it's time to turn our attention from the heroin trade
in Afghanistan and steroids in baseball to the toxic drug ripping
away at the very heart of our society.