Pubdate: Tue, 06 Sep 2005 Source: Asheville Citizen-Times (NC) Copyright: 2005 Asheville Citizen-Times Contact: http://www.citizen-times.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/863 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) N.C. LEGISLATORS SAW THE LIGHT ON METH The North Carolina General Assembly took a number of momentous actions that had been a long time coming in the final days of its 2005 session last week. With two opponents absent, one sick and the other on his honeymoon, the Senate passed a lottery bill already approved by the House. And, after much negotiation and some compromise, the House agreed to an increase in the cigarette tax, from 5 cents a pack, the lowest in the nation, to 30 cents now, increasing to 35 cents next summer. But, if the results in North Carolina are similar to those in other states, nothing the legislature did during its 2005 session will have a more significant impact than the passage of a law that requires cold and allergy tablets containing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, two ingredients used in the illegal manufacturing of methamphetamine, to be sold from behind a pharmacy counter. Methamphetamine labs have become a scourge in North Carolina. It's not enough that the highly addictive drug ruins the lives of those who use it, the manufacture of the drug threatens the health of children living in homes where labs are set up, the safety of neighborhoods where such houses are located and even the workers at landfills where the hazardous waste from the labs often ends up. Pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, found in common cold and allergy medicines, is an essential component in the manufacture of meth. The new law, passed by the Senate in April and by the House last week, puts all tablets containing pseudoephedrine, such as Sudafed and Claritin, behind the pharmacist's counter and requires customers to show photo identification and sign a log to obtain the medication. The law restricts purchases to nine grams a month without a prescription. The liquid and gel forms of the medicines are not restricted by the law because there has not been any evidence that they are used in the manufacture of meth. Sen. Walter Dalton, D-Rutherford, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said he did so because he had seen the effects of the drug. Rutherford County has been among the counties with the highest number of meth lab busts. "Because of the problem we've had, I have truly seen the devastating effects of meth. It's highly addictive, it's easy to get the ingredients and that was part of the problem," he said. N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper also deserves credit for his advocacy of a strong bill to restrict the sale of drugs containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine. We commend Sen. Dalton and the attorney general for the role they played in making the new law a reality, along with the other Senate and House members who supported it. After a law similar to the one passed by the North Carolina legislature was implemented in Oklahoma the number of meth lab busts decreased by 80 percent. Here's hoping that happens in North Carolina and there's every reason to hope that it will. - --- MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman