SENATE PANEL TO CONSIDER METH BILL

Meth production and use is at epidemic proportions in Oklahoma with
far-reaching effects, said legislators working to curb the trend. Video

House Bill 2176

The bill, which was passed by the House last month, is scheduled to be
heard at 9 a.m. today by the Senate Business and Labor Committee. A Senate
committee will consider legislation today that would give law enforcement a
new weapon in the war against meth labs, which have increased over the past
10 years, according to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs. In 1992, there were no meth labs seized in the state.

In 2002 -- the latest statistics available -- the narcotics bureau seized
11,361 grams of amphetamine and methamphetamine. More than 1,250
methamphetamine labs were seized in 2002.

According to narcotics bureau statistics, methamphetamine production
dropped in the early 1990s because of new chemical control laws, but
ballooned when a new "ephedrine" recipe surfaced in the mid-1990s.

"It is a new, easy to make, do it yourself in four hours and stay high for
days at a time recipe," said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the bureau of
narcotics.

House Bill 2176, also titled the Nik Green Act, would make pseudoephedrine
tablets a schedule V substance that can be sold only at licensed
pharmacies. Consumers wanting to buy the pseudoephedrine in pill form would
be required to show a photo identification and sign for the drug.

"We can hide our head in the sand ... or we can act," said Sen. Dick
Wilkerson, D-Atwood. "This legislation has the potential to have the most
significant impact on the fight against methamphetamine in Oklahoma."

Wilkerson said if the law is passed it will be the first law (in the
nation) placing tight restrictions on the sale of pseudoephedrine, commonly
used for allergies and colds.

Other states also are considering similar measures this year.

The bill is named after the state trooper killed in December when he
encountered a suspect police said was cooking methamphetamine on the side
of a Cotton County road.

Police protection Rep. John Nance, R-Bethany, the House author of the bill,
said law enforcement officers need the protections the legislation provides.

"It's about 10 years overdue," said Nance, who spent 30 years in law
enforcement, much of it investigating drug cases.

The measure also would restrict the amount of pseudoephedrine one person
can buy to 9 grams, or the equivalent of 12 boxes of the drug over a 30-day
period.

If a person was part of a large family, for example a family of six, and
needed more than 12 boxes or 9 grams in a month, he or she could receive a
doctor's prescription to buy more, Woodward said.

The legislation is designed to prevent methamphetamine manufacturers from
buying scores of boxes of this product for use in making meth, Woodward said.

"This will keep the meth cook from shopping," Woodward said.

The eventual goal will be to link all pharmacies by computer so a
pharmacist can enter the name of the person in the computer to see if he or
she has bought more of this in a 30-day period than is allowed by the law.

"Right now we're simply asking them to keep a log," Woodward said of the
pharmacies.

Gel caps and liquids used as decongestants are exempt under this
legislation because only the pill form of the pseudoephedrine is used to
make methamphetamine.

The bill also includes a provision that would allow judges to deny bond for
defendants arrested for meth crimes.

"If this bill had been law last year, Nik wouldn't have been killed by
someone who had been arrested twice for meth and then released," Nance said.

According to law enforcement, the meth production is "addiction-driven,"
not financial.

"Most people make the drug to use it, not to sell it," Woodward said.

Wilkerson said the time is now to stop talking about the war on drugs and
"fight the battle."

HB 2176 also would create a new crime for supplying clean urine designed to
defraud a urine test.