In Our View:

DETERRING METH MAKERS

Makers of methamphetamine should find it a bit more difficult in
Missouri to purchase the common over-the-counter decongestants that
are key ingredients in their volatile, addictive and, unfortunately,
profitable concoctions.

Under a new Missouri law, cold medicines with pseudoephedrine as the
sole active ingredient must be placed behind the counter, within 10
feet of a cashier or, failing either of those, tagged with an
electronic anti-theft device. The law also limits the sale of such
medicines to two packages per customer.

The objective is obvious: to choke the supply of pseudoephedrine by
restricting sales and making it harder to steal.

Will it deter those who profit from making and selling meth? Hardly.
They will find ways to get their hands on whatever they need - even if
it requires that they make their purchases in other states without a
sales limit - for their home laboratories. They don't give up easily,
as evidenced in Jasper County.

For good or ill, Jasper County has the distinction of leading the
state in the number of meth labs busted. If you want to read that on
the positive side, law enforcement is doing a crackerjack job in
tracking down the labs and closing them. Another way to look at it is
that the number of labs seized may reflect only a small portion of
those operating in the county. We hope that the former is true but
fear that it is the latter.

Meth is simply a problem that isn't going to go away, despite tougher
laws and increased scrutiny by law enforcement. The reason is that it
is relatively easy and cheap to make, most ingredients are readily
available, and the demand remains as high as those hooked on the drug.

Meth addiction is only one part of a multifaceted problem. Those who
use meth take their lives in their hands. But those who make it put
others, as well as themselves, at risk. The chemicals used in the
manufacturing process are toxic and explosive. Little wonder that
police must wear special protective equipment when raiding meth labs,
taking care not to breathe the fumes or set off a spark.

The new law governing the sales of some decongestants will likely
create only a tiny ripple in Missouri's drug world. But anything that
even slightly disturbs the vultures who prey on a human frailty is
welcome. If it means that the labs may make a little less meth or are
forced to shut down on occasion because of a lack of supplies, so much
the better.