FRUSTRATE METH LABS

Lawmakers Could Save Lives By Limiting Access To Ingredients

Methamphetamine labs are taking their toll across Appalachia as other drugs
do not. Hundreds of these clandestine labs blow up every year, killing some
people and sending other people to burn units.

Some of those other people are children.

Dr. Jeff Guy, director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center regional
burn center, has seen this hidden side of meth labs. Seven of his center's
20 current patients were burned in meth lab explosions.

"As bad as this may sound, as a burn doctor I almost wish another drug, one
less volatile that doesn't regularly explode during the manufacturing
process, would come down the pike to overtake the popularity of meth," he said.

His state's legislature just approved a law patterned on Oklahoma's law,
and Tennessee's governor quickly signed it. Among other things, it puts
over-the-counter cold remedies that contain ingredients used in cooking
meth behind the pharmacist's counter.

Oklahoma saw meth labs drop significantly after it adopted this measure.

A similar measure is now before the West Virginia Legislature. Surely a
tuned-up version that is fair to all manufacturers can be passed.