POTENT DRUG IS IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Lawmakers Aim To Slow Seepage Into State

The state Legislature is planning hearings and proposing new laws, hoping
to stanch the spread of methamphetamine use.

Evidence is accumulating that the cheap and potent drug, now well-ensconced
in neighboring states such as Minnesota and Iowa, is seeping over the
border into Wisconsin, where lab seizures jumped from five to more than 100
in four years.

Kicking off the efforts will be a hearing at the Capitol Feb. 23 that will
set the stage, articulating the health, social and economic problems
associated with the stimulant, as well as the possible legislative responses.

"Methamphetamine is a major criminal issue affecting not only western
Wisconsin, but rural Wisconsin statewide," said Rep. Scott Suder
(R-Abbotsford), who will be chairman of the hearing. "This is a first step
toward review of a comprehensive package that we hope will curb the problem."

The hearings are a precursor to coordination of a passel of bills that had
been announced in recent weeks by various legislators, Democrat and
Republican, seeking to deal with the meth issue, Suder said.

Calls to Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, who also has focused on the
meth issue, were not immediately returned.

Chief among the changes being proposed by lawmakers are new restrictions on
the over-the-counter sale of products containing pseudoephedrine, the
favored main ingredient in the toxic brew that becomes meth and also the
chief ingredient in such cold symptom products as Sudafed.

Michelle Kussow, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Grocers Association,
cautioned against any blanket prohibitions on pseudoephedrine that would
unfairly burden consumers in rural communities, where pharmacies are fewer.

"We want to make sure that any legislation comes out solves the meth
problems but doesn't create a huge burden on the customer or the retailer,"
she said.

Wisconsin is not alone in contemplating new laws to combat meth. In recent
years, states such as Oklahoma and Illinois have put heavy restrictions on
the sale of products with pseudoephedrine, limiting the amounts that can be
sold and who can sell them. At the federal level, new restrictions are
making their way through Congress, where a "meth caucus" has been meeting
on the subject.

"I expect action soon," said U.S. Rep Ron Kind (D-Wis.), a member of the
caucus.

Officials from the law enforcement and drug treatment communities are
sounding the alarm about meth because it is cheap to produce and purchase,
has a long-lasting high, has notably deleterious medical side effects,
including permanent brain damage, and can induce paranoia that can turn
violent.

According to figures from the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, the number of meth lab seizures in Wisconsin rose from five in 1999
to 101 in 2003. The state crime lab reported an increase in meth cases
referred, from 101 in 2000 to 545 in 2004.

Shawna Kovach, a Chippewa Falls-based program coordinator for the St.
Joseph's Hospital drug treatment center, said that her organization treated
170 cases of meth addiction last year. She said this represented close to a
100% increase from three years previous.

"We've been seeing it creep from the western counties along the Minnesota
border into our part of the state. It's not surprising at all. It will
travel to your part of the state," she said.