METH BILL PRAISED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

Area law enforcement officials praised a new Kentucky law Monday afternoon
that provides stiff penalties for people caught with large amounts of drugs
used to make methamphetamine.

The legislation, House Bill 644, makes it a Class D felony to possess more
than 24 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. The drugs, which are found
in common cold or allergy medicines, are common ingredients in methamphetamine.

Officials discussed the bill Monday at a press conference at the Daviess
County Judicial Center.

Rep. Brian Crall, an Owensboro Republican, sponsored the bill in Frankfort.
In the past, Crall said, law enforcement officials have not been convicting
people caught with large quantities of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine,
because prosecutors could not prove the defendant intended to use the drugs
to make methamphetamine.

"It was difficult to prosecute because it was difficult to prove intent,"
Crall said. Because the statutes didn't specifically say possession of
large amounts of ephedrine was a crime, "law enforcement's hands were
tied," Crall said.

"What (the law) attempts to do is give law enforcement officials the
opportunity to have another tool in their belt" in the fight against
methamphetamine, Crall said.

Under the new law, possession of more than 24 grams of pseudoephedrine or
ephedrine will constitute "prima facie" evidence of intent to manufacture
methamphetamine. The law also applies to people who unlawfully distribute
more than 24 grams of the substances to others, Crall said.

People charged under the law would still face a court trial, said Daviess
County Sheriff Keith Cain.

"It still leaves law enforcement the task of proving beyond a reasonable
doubt" that a person intended to manufacture methamphetamine, Cain said.
Cain said 24 grams of pseudoephedrine is more than a person or a family
would purchase at one time. "That's roughly three months worth of the
medication," he said. "It's ludicrous for me or for anyone else to believe
they would need that large a quantity of the drug" unless a person were
making meth, he said.

John Kazlauskas, acting chief of the Owensboro Police Department, said
methamphetamine addiction leads to other types of crime.

"We know the majority of crimes against property and (against people) are
drug-related," Kazlauskas said. "In our community, we know those crimes are
being driven by the manufacture of methamphetamine and other drugs."

Crall said the new law will not target people who buy small amounts of
ephedrine of pseudoephedrine for normal uses.

"What we didn't want to do was infringe in any way on citizens' rights to
get this very legitimate drug," Crall said.