Pubdate: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 Source: Statesman Journal (Salem, OR) Copyright: 2005 Statesman Journal Contact: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/427 Author: Bill Theobald Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) OREGON SENATORS' METH BILL PASSES The Measure Would Provide More Help From Federal Agencies WASHINGTON -- Communities in Oregon and elsewhere would have more help to battle methamphetamine addiction under a bill the Senate passed Thursday. The Combat Meth Act, co-sponsored by Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith, would provide funding to train police, monitor purchases of the ingredients used to make the drug and create a center to research effective treatments for meth addiction. "The deadly problem of meth is eating away at the social fabric of our state, and today's action by the Senate is a big step forward in rebuilding that fabric," said Wyden, a Democrat. The Senate bill isn't as strict as Oregon's law, which requires people to have prescriptions for cold and allergy medications that can be converted into methamphetamine. Cold medicines such as Sudafed contain pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in producing the illegal drug methamphetamine. The Senate bill would: # Limit customers to 7.5 grams of cold medicine, about two boxes of full-strength Sudafed, each month. # Require customers to show identification when buying cold medicines and sign a logbook. # Require all stores and pharmacies to keep cold medicines behind the counter. The meth program is part of an appropriations bill to fund federal commerce, justice and science programs that passed 91-4. It now goes to a conference committee where members of the House and Senate will work out a compromise. Marion County Sheriff Raul Ramirez said that his staff got a stunning measure of the extent of the methamphetamine problem locally when they worked with Western Oregon University researchers to survey the more than 670 inmates in the county jail and work center. The finding: About 75 percent reported problems with meth addiction. "We have been seeing the devastation on children and on families at a record pace," Ramirez said. Smith and Wyden said that meth ranks second among the drugs used by addicted teens in Oregon. Nationally, a survey this summer of law-enforcement agencies in 45 states identified meth as a bigger problem than cocaine, marijuana or heroin. Meth lab seizures have doubled across the country in the past five years, from 7,438 in 1999 to 15,994 last year, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Combat Meth Act would provide: # $15 million for training state and local law-enforcement officials on how to investigate methamphetamine crimes. # $5 million to hire additional federal prosecutors and train local prosecutors, who could try people under tougher federal drug laws. # $5 million for states and businesses that legally sell ingredients used to make meth to help monitor those sales. # $5 million for "rapid response teams" composed of federal, state and local officials to help children affected by meth-addicted parents. How this money would be distributed has yet to be determined, said Andrew Blotky, a spokesman for Wyden. Ramirez said that his office has been conducting public-education programs and handing out information packets to groups in Salem and elsewhere in the county to enlist their help in spotting meth activity. "There is no way law enforcement can combat this problem without the help of the public," Ramirez said. "There are not enough police officers." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake