NEW RULE WORTH IT IN FIGHT AGAINST METH

This week, Kentucky joined more than a dozen other states across the
nation to wage a more aggressive fight against the manufacture and
use of illegal methamphetamine drugs.

Senate Bill 63 -- the "Meth Bill" as it and similar bills have become
known -- took effect last Monday. The new law changes the way many
cold, allergy and other such drugs containing psuedoephedrine,
ephedrine or phenylpropanolamine may be purchased.

These medications, with brand names like Sudafed, Claritin, Nyquil
and others that previously were sold over-the-counter, now only can
be stocked behind the counter by licensed pharmacies. Customers are
required to be at least 18 years of age, present identification and
sign their names, addresses and birthdates in a logbook to purchase
the medications. Purchases are limited to three or fewer packages of
the medication per transaction and no more than 9 grams may be bought
within any 30-day period.

Sound restrictive? It's meant to be.

Illegal meth production and use is a new infection in the continued
drug plague ravaging our nation. According to national statistics,
the meth problem is most critical in Midwestern states where rural
and agricultural areas provide the concealment and access to other
key chemical ingredients "meth cooks" require for their illicit
trade. Law enforcement and drug abuse counselors say the "high" users
get from meth is far more intense and longer lasting than other
illegal substances. It's highly addictive and takes a quick and far
more visible physical toll on its abusers. And its addicts will do
anything to get their hands on it.

In other states like Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri and Oklahoma,
similar laws have been effective in curbing manufacture and use of
meth. In Oklahoma, for example, passage of a similar state law
reduced meth-related law enforcement responses by 50-percent.
Kentucky legislators and law enforcement officials hope the same, if
not better success, will be experienced here.

For law-abiding folks across the commonwealth, this change will be an
inconvenient one. But when allergy symptoms flare and colds strike
and we're required to take these additional steps to purchase
medications of choice, keep one important point in mind. In doing so,
we'll each be playing a part in the ongoing fight to stamp out
methamphetamine from the streets and countryside of our community.