LOCAL REACTION FAVORABLE TO PROPOSAL

A law enforcement officer who has been on the front lines in the battle
against methamphetamine in the Tri-Cities area endorses proposed
legislation to clamp down on meth manufacturing and distribution in Nebraska.

A proposed bill announced on Wednesday by Gov. Mike Johanns and Attorney
General Jon Bruning would require any product containing the starch tablet
form of pseudoephedrine to be sold by a pharmacy and stored behind the
counter or in a locked display case. Anyone purchasing it would be required
to show identification and sign a logbook.

The bill also stiffens penalties for drug crimes that involve firearms,
aligns meth penalties with those for cocaine trafficking and adds meth to
the definition of an exceptionally hazardous drug.

"It's kind of a double-edged sword for people who use pseudoephedrine
products, but it's also one of those things that has to be done to curb the
manufacture of methamphetamine," said Glenn Kemp of the Adams County
Sheriff's Department and the Tri-City Drug Task Force.

Ben Wassinger, the Grand Island pharmacist who owns Ben's Pharmacy and
Homecare Equipment, also recognizes the need to get tougher on meth.

He said the proposed law is a "very small sacrifice" when it comes to
stopping the use and manufacturing of methamphetamine.

"The possible inconvenience of having people sign for it doesn't outweigh
the benefit the state will receive, and it (pseudoephedrine) won't readily
be available for methamphetamine users or producers," Wassinger said. "As a
headache from a pharmacist point of view, you could either ask a doctor to
write a prescription for it or simply not carry it over the counter if you
didn't want to deal with it. I don't think this will be too hard on anybody."

Kemp said if Nebraska doesn't pass such a law -- patterned after a similar
law in Oklahoma and Kansas -- and Missouri does pass it, meth manufacturers
could be driven into Nebraska. That's especially true of the Tri-Cities
area because of its proximity to the Kansas border.

He said it takes about 5,000 tablets of a product containing
pseudoephedrine to make half an ounce of methamphetamine.

Meth is particularly a problem in Nebraska. In 2001, more than 60 percent
of federally sentenced offenses in Nebraska involved drugs, and two-thirds
of those involved methamphetamine.

"By controlling the purchase of pseudoephedrine, the one ingredient
necessary to manufacture meth, the state would be taking a big step in
fighting the meth lab problem," Col. Tom Nesbitt, superintendent of the
Nebraska State Patrol, said on Wednesday at a new conference announcing the
proposed law. "Enhanced penalties would signal that Nebraska is serious
about addressing meth abuse and not allowing this dangerous drug to destroy
Nebraska families."

In 2003, 245 meth labs were seized in Nebraska, according to the U.S.
Justice Department.

Meth is a highly addictive central nervous system stimulant. Short-term use
causes paranoia, hallucinations, aggressive behavior, sores and
convulsions. Long-term use can cause depression, brain damage, liver
damage, stroke and fatal kidney and lung disorders.

Kemp said a lot of convenience stores and bigger stores have already
complied by putting those products containing pseudoephedrine behind the
counter and requiring customers to ask for it, along with restricting sales
to three boxes at a time.

He said one reason many stores have taken the product off their shelves is
because of shoplifting.

"It got to the point where they were stealing the blister packs out of the
boxes and leaving empty boxes on the shelves," Kemp said.

He said pseudoephedrine is the "main precursor" in making meth.

"This law will prevent these people from getting the precursor so easily to
make the drug," Kemp said. "Methamphetamine is still an epidemic, whether
people want to realize it or not. Every murder that has happened in the
Tri-Cities over the last five years has been related back to methamphetamine."