CRACKDOWN ON METH

Spurred by the success of Oklahoma's anti-methamphetamine law, Kansas
legislators are looking at copying the restrictions on consumer access to
cold, flu and allergy medications containing key meth ingredients,
ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.

Under the proposal, consumers could buy only 9 grams of the medication
every 30 days. That would amount to three 24-pill packages, which Senate
Majority Leader Derek Schmidt suggests is "more than they would need for
the common cold."

To buy such medications would require a photo identification, probably a
driver's license, and a signature. That seems strange since there is
apparently no intent to run drug purchases through a centralized database
and buyers could get more by going from store to store.

Oklahoma's success in running meth laboratories out of the state with
tighter restrictions clearly invited copying. Figures announced by the
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs reveal a drop in meth-lab
seizures from 103 a month to 56 a month. In Kansas, 529 meth labs were
seized and 438 people arrested through Nov. 25 of last year.

The stringency of the Oklahoma law may be an inconvenience for those
suffering from colds, flu or allergies, but it appears to have sent meth
makers looking for friendlier climes in nearby states. That means Oklahoma
taxpayers are not having to underwrite the costs of cleaning up as many
dangerous meth sites, and the health risks have been reduced for the public
and law enforcement of chemical contamination or the threat of
house-leveling explosions.

Finding a permanent solution for the meth problem has proved elusive. The
drug is cheap, easy to make, popular and profitable. The Oklahoma law seems
the best weapon developed so far in fighting the meth war.