Pubdate: Tue, 06 Sep 2005
Source: Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL)
Copyright: 2005 Southern Illinoisan
Contact:  http://www.TheSouthern.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1430
Author: Matt Adrian
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

EIGHT MONTHS AFTER NEW COLD TABLET RESTRICTIONS, MADIGAN WANTS MORE

SPRINGFIELD - Eight months after new restrictions on cold tablets took 
effect, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan already wants tougher new 
laws to curb the state's methamphetamine problem.

Concerns about out-of-state meth users coming to Illinois to load up on 
cold tablets containing ephedrine or pseudo-ephedrine, methamphetamine's 
main ingredient, has spurred calls to strengthen the law.

"We must keep pace with our neighboring states to ensure that Illinois 
doesn't become the meth shopping mall of the Midwest," Madigan told 
reporters at a Southern Illinois press conference. Both Iowa and Missouri 
have adopted stricter controls.

The state's top lawyer touted Iowa and Oklahoma laws that have put most of 
the tablets behind pharmacy counters and require customers to show ID as 
well as sign a registry. Oklahoma, the birthplace of pseudoephedrine 
control, has shown a 54 percent decline in meth lab seizures from 2003's 
1,246 to 669 in 2004

However, Madigan is calling for something similar to Iowa, where 
authorities brag of a 70 percent drop in meth lab seizures since the new 
law took effect about three months ago.

In Iowa, people must be at least 18 years old to purchase the cold medicine 
and customers can only buy 7.5 grams of the drug in a 30-day period. Iowa 
also requires liquid and gel cap pseudoephedrine products to be stored 
behind the counter.

The specifics of the attorney general's proposal are still being hammered 
out but it will be based "largely on the Iowa law," said Melissa Merz, a 
Madigan spokeswoman.

The Illinois Retail Merchants Association, a group that has balked at 
tougher regulations in the past, is waiting to see what the state will propose.

At the time it was adopted Illinois' current restriction of two packages 
per store visit was seen as being amongst the toughest in the nation. 
However, it doesn't appear as though it has led to a significant decrease 
in lab seizures.

Illinois State Police report that law enforcement have shut down 533 labs 
so far this year.

For the same time period in 2004 authorities uncovered 630 operations.

A recent attorney general spot check in 23 counties also raises questions 
about how well retailers are enforcing the new law. While Herrin in 
Williamson County scored a 100 percent, only 23 percent of Cook County's 
Hyde Park and West Side neighborhoods were following the law. Overall, the 
statewide compliance rate was reported to be 65 percent.

Restricting access to pseudoephedrine is seen by drug control advocates as 
the way of dismantling the toxic labs run by addicts.

Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Bureau of Narcotics 
and Dangerous Drug Control, reports that so far meth lab seizures in his 
state have dropped even more since all the surrounding states have adopted 
similar controls.

However, Oklahoma law enforcement are seeing meth addicts, who once brewed 
their own drugs, start to purchase it from drug dealers, usually associated 
with the Mexican drug cartels.

With the decline in meth labs, authorities can now concentrate on attacking 
organized drug rings, Woodward said.

"Now opposed to spending eight or 10 hours at guy's house processing a meth 
lab (local police) can really start to focus on where drugs are coming 
from," he said. "And, they are coming from Mexico."

While specific Oklahoma statistics were not available, Woodward said police 
also expect to see an upswing in property crimes as addicts look for ways 
to pay for their habit.

"You can cook an ounce of meth for about $43 on your kitchen stove," he 
said. "Mexican meth in Oklahoma goes for $800 to $1,000 an ounce. So those 
that are continuing their habit are going to have to find money somewhere."

To these possible scenarios playing out in Illinois, Mertz replied: "We 
have to address one problem at a time."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman