LEGISLATION WOULD LIMIT SALE OF DRUG USED TO MAKE METH

Calling methamphetamine use an epidemic, Oklahoma lawmakers and law
enforcement authorities expressed support Wednesday for legislation
that would make it harder to buy an over-the-counter cold medication
that is the addictive drug's key ingredient. The measure, pre-filed in
the Oklahoma House on Tuesday, would make pseudoephedrine tablets a
Schedule V narcotic - the least regulated kind - and make the
medication available exclusively at licensed pharmacies, said Rep.
John Nance, R-Bethany, the bill's author.

Supporters, including officials with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and
the state's top drug enforcement agency, said the proposal, based on
an interim study group's recommendations, would slow the production of
meth in Oklahoma, which leads the nation in per capita production.

"It they don't have pseudoephedrine, they can't make meth," said Tony
Cunningham of the District Attorney's Council.

Tablets containing pseudoephedrine are currently available at grocery
stores, convenience stores and other retail outlets. Officials said
pseudoephedrine can be chemically converted to meth in just 15 minutes.

The measure, similar to one filed in Iowa, would require buyers to
show photo ID's and sign for the drug. It would also limit the amount
of pseudoephedrine they can purchase in a month to 12 boxes of 34
tablets, Nance said.

"I think it will have a significant impact," said Sen. Dick Wilkerson,
D-Atwood. "It's another attempt to look a the supply side of this thing."

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have expressed concern about the measure,
Nance said. Telephone calls to representatives for drug makers and
Oklahoma pharmacists were not immediately returned.

Meth turns users into "dangerous, paranoid, schizophrenic people" and
has created a public safety crisis in the state, said Scott Rowland of
the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

"A small number of people are contaminating and abusing the youth of
this country," Wilkerson said.

Meth use has had deadly consequences for law enforcement officials.
The deaths of four Highway Patrol troopers in the line of duty were
directly related to meth production or use, said Gary Adams, chief of
the Highway Patrol.

They include trooper Nicky Green, 35, who was killed on a rural Cotton
County road near Devol on Dec. 26 as he investigated a vehicle that
allegedly was being used as a mobile methamphetamine lab.

"It is epidemic," Adams said. "It puts many of us at risk."

The measure would also require that containers used to store anhydrous
ammonia, another meth ingredient, contain locks and that defendants
arrested for meth crimes and certified as addicted to the drug not be
considered for release on bond.

The measure is House Bill 2176.