PUT COLD PILLS OUT OF REACH TO FIGHT METH

All of the ingredients for a disaster were there.

Three people, perhaps high on drugs themselves, were trying to cook
methamphetamine in a roadside motel bathroom, according to police. Volatile
chemicals exploded, then a fire raced through adjoining motel rooms and
sent a choking cloud of smoke rolling up a hill toward a nearby home.

Luckily, no one was killed. This time. The next time might be different.

If anyone still doubts that methamphetamine is a threat to our communities,
Monday's explosion of a secret laboratory in a Smyth County motel should
sweep away those concerns. It also should be reason enough to support tough
new laws to fight the meth-makers.

The most promising approach is this: Locking up pseudoephedrine-containing
cold pills -- like Sudafed -- behind pharmacist's counters. They've done it
in Oklahoma and Oregon, and it's worked.

Since the Oklahoma law took effect last spring, the number of illegal drug
laboratories raided by police there has fallen by 70 to 80 percent,
according to police in that state. Oregon also reports a drop in the number
of mom-and-pop drug laboratories.

True, the strict control of over-the-counter cold pills -- the primary
ingredient in meth -- hasn't ended the use of the illegal super stimulant
in those states. After all, some law enforcement officials believe only 20
percent of the nation's meth is being cooked in these small, mobile
laboratories. But that 20 percent is a significant danger for local
residents -- who might be unknowingly living next door to a lab that's just
waiting to blow -- and to police and firefighters who risk their lives
responding when things go awry.

The explosion in Smyth County did more than $100,000 damage to the Budget
Inn at Seven Mile Ford. A similar explosion at an illegal lab in a trailer
in Hawkins County, Tenn., killed the meth-makers and sickened first
responders. The stakes couldn't be higher.

Tennessee is one of a dozen or so states considering moving pseudoephedrine
behind pharmacy counters. Would-be purchasers would have to ask the
pharmacist for the pills and probably show identification and sign a log.
Liquid forms of the drug, like cough syrups and children's medicines, and
liquid-containing gel caplets would be exempted because they can't be used
to make methamphetamine.

In Virginia, a similar bill proposed by Gate City Republican Terry Kilgore
was killed in committee. That's too bad, although state lawmakers did
increase the penalties for those caught making meth.

Now, an Oregon lawmaker is proposing a federal law to restrict the sale of
pseudophedrine and to create a federal registry to monitor purchases. The
same lawmaker wants more than $1 billion in new funds for drug treatment
for methamphetamine users.

It might be time to take the battle to the federal level. This isn't just a
problem of the rural Midwest or Southeast these days. And, it's going to
take more than tough talk to stop this growing epidemic.