NEW METH BILL RIGHT ON TIME, POLICE SAY

A bill passed on the final day of the legislative session forcing stores to
put cold medicine containing the main ingredient in methamphetamine behind
the counter could not have come at a better time, said a veteran Charleston
drug officer.

Through the first eight days of April, the Metro Drug Unit busted or
collected evidence at nine meth labs, said Lt. Steve Neddo, commander of
the unit.

The unit has busted 90 labs so far this year.

In 2004, the drug unit busted 105 labs.

"I'm banking everything on this one," Neddo said of the bill. "I hope it
helps. I'm hoping this allows the drug unit to go back and do drug
investigations."

Over the last year and half, his detectives have been "glorified lab
janitors" because they have spent so much time cleaning meth labs, Neddo
said. Those duties are leaving little time to investigate other drug
crimes, he said.

If Gov. Joe Manchin signs the bill into law, a customer looking for cold
medicine containing pseudoephedrine would have to ask a clerk for it and
then sign a form.

Neddo conceded the process isn't something sick people are going to like,
but he said the positives outweigh the negatives.

"It will be a little harder to get, but houses not burning down, people not
driving around with it in their cars and kids not being exposed to it will
be well worth the inconvenience," he said.

The bill passed by the Legislature was based on a similar measure passed
last year in Oklahoma, which had a serious meth problem.

Lawmakers forced the legislations through after a man high on meth killed
State Trooper Nik Green. After the law passed, there was an 80 percent
reduction in the number of labs busted.

"If we could see just half of that, it would help us tremendously. I'm
hoping that it allows us to get out of the office and do what I consider
real drug work," Neddo said.

Police caution that the meth problem won't end overnight. Across the
country, when investigators have been able to quash the so-called "mom and
pop" labs, dealers bring in meth that has been mass-produced in other
states or in Mexico.

When the drug is brought in from elsewhere, it is more expensive and harder
to come by, Neddo said.

"If a drug is dirt cheap, like meth is, everybody is on the bandwagon," he
said.

The drug unit and other drug task forces around the state are set up to
handle more traditional means of drug trafficking. If someone is bringing a
drug into an area and selling it, police have investigators who can keep
the flow in check.

Neddo said police were dealing with the meth problem before. He cited the
case of Robert Jarvis, who allegedly brought 200 grams of meth into the
Kanawha Valley from California in 1994.

Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford was instrumental in helping the bill
get passed. He hasn't seen the final draft, but he said the measure would help.

"It sounds like it's a very good bill," he said. "If it goes along the same
lines as it has in other states, it should show a dramatic effect. This
should be a big help for us."

Rutherford, who established a meth hotline that has prompted hundreds of
tips to filter in from county residents, said the bill is not "a panacea,"
but it gives police another tool to fight the drug.

Neddo and Rutherford agreed that the law might allow police to return to
drug cases that require more attention.

Neddo said a rash of shootings on Charleston's West Side last year were all
drug-related, but he said his officers could do only so much because they
were too busy cleaning meth labs.

One thing the law didn't address is the making of meth near schools.
Although there are penalties for drug dealing around schools, there are no
enhanced penalties for manufacturing the drug near a school.

Rutherford said authorities would try to address that during the next
legislative session.

Sen. Vic Sprouse, who shepherded the bill through the state Senate, said
the measure that will go to the governor's desk lacked some punch of the
original drafts, but he said he was happy with what was passed.

"Of all the bills that went through this legislative session, this is one
that is going to have a positive effect on more West Virginians, because
meth is such an epidemic," he said.

Police had lobbied for the bill to take effect immediately after the
governor signed it, but Sprouse said the usual 90-day waiting period will
likely be in effect to give stores a chance to move the merchandise behind
the counter.