IN OUR VIEW: CRACKING DOWN ON METH LABS

Law enforcement authorities in Missouri and Kansas were able to smile last
week after the National Clandestine Laboratory Seizure System reported a
significant decline in the number of meth laboratories closed down in 2004.
But the smile began to fade quickly in Kansas, where the failure to report
lab seizures in a third of the state's counties has deflated hopes of a
genuine decrease. Indeed, the Hutchinson News contacted several counties
that showed no lab busts and discovered numerous uncounted seizures. The
official report filed by Kansas earlier had shown 583 lab busts. That
represented a 10 percent drop in labs, dumpsites, materials and equipment
from the previous year and dropped Kansas out of the top 10 meth states for
the first time in a decade. That has changed now, of course, although there
may not be an officially updated total.

Missouri has been No. 1 in the nation for years and not surprisingly
remained in that position with 2,799 meth seizures. But the good news is
that the number was down from 2,860 in 2003.

The numbers can be read two ways. Either sheriffs' departments, local
police and other law enforcement agencies are doing a crackerjack job of
finding and shutting down meth labs or they are only touching on a
percentage of them. We tend to believe that law enforcement has stepped up
its anti-meth efforts. But we also believe there is a long line of meth
makers ready to take over when one gets busted.

A temporary solution seems to be an Oklahoma-type law that prevents those
who make methamphetamine from obtaining the key ingredients for their
dangerous brew. Lawmakers in Missouri and Kansas are pushing legislation
that would restrict the sale of cold, flu and allergy medications
containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Consumers would be allowed to buy
only a specified amount of the medication, would have to provide photo
identification and would have to sign a registration book. Eventually,
registration information could be fed into a central database to make
identification of possible meth manufacturers easier. How well has the
Oklahoma system worked? Well, meth-lab seizures dropped from 103 a month to
56 a month in the first year. The problem is that Oklahoma meth
manufacturers simply scurried across the nearby borders into Kansas and
Missouri to set up shop or buy their ingredients. In self-defense, Missouri
and Kansas need a similar law.