RESTRICTIONS SOUGHT ON KEY METHAMPHETAMINE CHEMICAL

RALEIGH - State lawmakers want to restrict the sale of cold medicine to
make it tougher to produce methamphetamine.

The Meth Lab Prevention Act would move cold tablets containing
pseudoephedrine - a nasal decongestant and one of the key ingredients in
methamphetamine - from drugstore shelves to behind the pharmacy counter.
Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in Sudafed.

Prescriptions would not be required, but shoppers would have to show
identification to buy the drugs.

Because meth producers have to use pseudoephedrine powder, gel capsules and
liquid medicines containing the drug would continue to be available on
store shelves.

Supporters of the legislation say the move is an important step in
preventing what is already a problem in North Carolina from getting worse.

"Methamphetamine use is at a crisis point in the Western and Midwestern
states," state Attorney General Roy Cooper said during a press conference
Thursday. "We want to prevent it from becoming a crisis in North Carolina."

Sen. Walter Dalton, a Rutherford County Democrat, and Sen. John Snow, a
Democrat from Murphy, introduced the bill Thursday.

It is modeled on legislation passed in several Western states limiting the
sale of pseudoephedrine. Cooper said attorneys general nationwide are
pushing for federal legislation limiting access to the drug.

"Dealers go to the states of least resistance," said Dalton. "We're not
going to be that."

Methamphetamine has been growing in popularity. Cooked from household
ingredients such as cold medicine and lithium batteries using recipes
available on the Internet, the drug is tougher to detect than cocaine or
marijuana, which are trafficked across international borders.

"It unfortunately is the choice of drugs right now," said Sampson County
Sheriff Jimmy Thornton. "They can make it and move it quick. The addictive
nature of it is so powerful."

'A No-Brainer'

Harnett County Sheriff Larry Rollins said the legislation could affect meth
production.

"It's a no-brainer," he said. "It's an obvious cure. Pseudoephedrine is
what they have to have to make methamphetamine. If they can't get it, they
can't make it. It's the kind of legislation that would have a real impact."

Most of the meth labs found in North Carolina were in the mountains, but
they exist throughout the state, Cooper said.

In the Cape Fear region, lawmen raided five Harnett County labs in 2004.
Lee County had one, and Sampson County had two. Authorities found 322 labs
in the state in 2004, up from nine in 1999 and 177 in 2003.

Sampson County sheriff's deputies found three meth labs in January.

Lawmen rely on tips to find the labs but often don't learn about them until
they catch fire, a typical reaction of the chemicals used to produce the drug.

"Being in a big rural county, there's no telling how many we got here,"
Thornton said.

Thornton cited a case in the West in which a state hired outside help to
crack down on the labs. He said more than 100 labs were discovered in less
than a month.

"That tells me that really this is a serious problem, far more so than we
can ever hope to imagine," he said.

Thornton said he would like the legislation to further limit access to - or
at least track the sale of - items such as batteries and fertilizers used
to make methamphetamine.

Criticisms Raised

Some say the legislation goes too far, too soon.

Mike James, president of the N.C. Independent Community Pharmacists
Association, said several over-the-counter drugs that include
pseudoephedrine would be pulled from shelves if the bill becomes law.

Because pharmacy counters aren't open as long as drug and grocery stores,
he said, the bill would limit people's access to basic cold medicines.

"The concerns I have as a pharmacist is if I put all of the products off
the shelves, we are denying the public access to products they need,
products that help them get better and prevent them from having to make a
call to a doctor," James said.

He supports pulling pure pseudoephedrine, but said cold-tablet mixtures
shouldn't be included in the bill.

"I think we're moving too far in one step," he said. "If it appears we're
not making any headway, then we'll take the next step."

Fran Preston, president of the N.C. Retailers Association, said the bill
would burden pharmacists with another responsibility and would limit the
choices for consumers.

"They (pharmacists) should be counseling patients and dispensing drugs,"
Preston said. "To ask them to do this is a serious problem."

The legislation would require a pharmacist to look at an ID and record the
buyer's name in a log book.

But supporters such as Cooper say the bill amounts to little more than a
slight inconvenience for "a great benefit."

The legislation would appropriate $836,000 to hire more than a dozen new
agents, chemists and drug technicians at the State Bureau of Investigation.

Law-enforcement agencies say the extra help is needed, not just for meth
cases, but for all narcotics cases.

Once a lab is discovered, police have to wait for a chemical analyst from
the SBI to check the site, leaving crime scenes open for as long as two or
three days, Thornton said.

Rollins said SBI drug analyses can take anywhere from nine months to a
year, which delays prosecution.