OKLAHOMA DRUG/METH LAW IS RIGHT PRESCRIPTION FOR TEXAS

A state law that had a dramatic effect on reducing methamphetamine use in
Oklahoma has crossed the state line into Texas.

Welcome.

State Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, is pushing legislation that would
ban over-the-counter sales of drugs such as Sudafed.

The law may be an inconvenience to cold sufferers, but considering that such
drugs contain a primary ingredient in making meth - pseudoephedrine -
restriction is necessary.

Oklahoma passed a similar law last year and saw the number of meth labs
confiscated drop significantly.

However, that meant meth-makers and users took road trips to neighboring
states to purchase large quantities of legal drugs containing
pseudoephedrine, and sometimes relocating their illegal operations. The
problem is not limited near the state line, though.

Floydada Police Chief Darrell Gooch told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal of a
dozen raids on meth labs in the past two years. This was after Gooch, who
has been with the department 20 years, remembers only one meth lab raid in
his first 18 years on the job.

Texas DPS officials raided 934 meth labs in a 12-month period ending last
May, a 167-percent increase during a similar period in 2002.

Meth has become the drug of choice, and most law enforcement officials
describe it as an epidemic.

A law that has proved to work in another state needs to be adopted in Texas.