Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 Source: Des Moines Register (IA) http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=3D/20050712/NEWS/5071= 2002 Copyright: 2005 The Des Moines Register. Contact: http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123 Author: Lee Rood Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) STATE: DROP IN METH SEIZURES SHOWS THAT TOUGH LAW WORKS State officials say Iowa's new law restricting most pseudoephedrine sales to pharmacies is working wonders: The number of methamphetamine lab seizures declined more than 75 percent in June, the first full month after the law took effect, compared to the same period last year. "I'm very satisfied that they're starting to drop, as we hoped they would, " said Ken Carter, chief of Iowa's narcotics bureau. "We're already starting to free up resources so that we can go after the 80 percent of meth that is imported in the state." However, Carter and other Iowa law-enforcement leaders fear Congress will adopt more lenient pseudoephedrine restrictions under an amended federal proposal that would override state laws. The Senate's Judiciary Committee is scheduled to debate changes to the federal Combat Meth Act as early as Thursday. "I want to see something in writing that permits us to keep our current law, so it cannot be weakened in any way," Carter said. Hoping to cut access to a main ingredient in the manufacture of meth, the Iowa Legislature this year required consumers to show identification and have their names entered into a log before making purchases of products containing pseudoephedrine. The law also limits the amount of pseudoephedrine that a person can purchase in a month and confines sales of all but the lowest-dose liquid pseudoephedrine products to pharmacies. Earlier this year, U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley said they supported the federal proposal restricting pseudoephedrine as a means to curtail the spread nationwide of the toxic, makeshift labs that have endangered scores of children and taxed law-enforcement resources. Meth is now the nation's No. 1 drug problem affecting law enforcement agencies, according to several recent surveys. However, the federal bill became more controversial after it was amended to pre-empt state laws - in large part to appease concerns of drug companies and retailers. Grassley, a ranking Republican on the judiciary committee, and U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, who was appointed recently to a congressional task force on rural meth issues, have since said they would oppose any federal proposal that would supersede state law. "If states want to have tougher laws, they should have that right," Latham, a Republican, said on Monday. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, Polk County Attorney John Sarcone and national law-enforcement groups have complained that the federal bill allows wider sales of pseudoephedrine products than is currently allowed under the Iowa law. That would open the door for more meth-making, they said. Representatives from Harkin's office, meanwhile, say they want to assure the Combat Meth Act is as strong as Iowa's law. Passing a federal law, they said, would ensure that meth-makers could not travel from state to state, buying or stealing multiple boxes of the decongestant where laws are most permissive. However, Beth Stein, a Harkin staffer, also said U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, and Jim Talent, a Republican from Missouri, have insisted that the federal legislation supersede state laws. "The main sponsors have already bought off on the concept of pre-emption," Stein said. Miller and Sarcone have fought back in recent days, writing letters to Harkin and Grassley to discourage them from supporting anything less than what is on the books in Iowa. Sarcone, who pressured state legislators this year to pass stringent pseudoephedrine controls, said he opposes legislation that would limit states' ability to address their own meth-related problems. "We know what works, and we shouldn't have to settle for something less," he said. "The human toll of this drug has just been tremendous. I don't know how long we have to continue before everyone wakes up."