RETAILERS JOIN FIGHT ON METH

Oklahoma made great strides in the war against methamphetamine when
legislators wrote a law requiring that cough medicines containing a key
ingredient of meth to be placed behind counters and that purchasers
identify themselves. Other states are following suit, including Missouri
and Kansas.

Giant retailers Wal-Mart and Target are joining the fight. Rather than
waiting for legislation in states where they operate, they are requiring
that cold tablets be removed from shelves and put behind a pharmacist's
counter. No prescriptions would be required to obtain the medicine, but
buyers would have to sign for their purchases.

We would like to see other retailers follow that lead. Meth is destroying
lives. Everyone, from the public to retailers to law enforcement, has a
stake in seeing that this highly addictive scourge is more difficult for
manufacturers to make through the restriction of access to pseudoephedrine
and, as a consequence, hard to find on the street.

Putting cold medicines - or more appropriately, the pseudoephedrine
ingredient - behind counters and requiring that buyers sign for the
purchase has worked in reducing the number of meth labs in Oklahoma. But
there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Meth labs are seized every day, and
many of those involved start up again once they make bail. The reason is
that meth is inexpensive and relatively easy to make, and profitable.

Those who use meth knowingly put their lives in jeopardy. So do those who
blend the volatile mixture of chemicals. Toxic fumes and exploding labs
also put police and citizens at risk. We applaud Wal-Mart and Target for
stepping up to the plate in the battle against meth without waiting for new
laws.