Pubdate: Sat, 26 Nov 2005
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2005 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: Steve Ivey, Washington Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

CONGRESS SEEKS LIMITS ON SALES OF COLD DRUGS

Bill Targets Decongestants Used To Make Meth

WASHINGTON -- Congress is poised to pass a new law to restrict 
over-the-counter sales of some decongestant pills that have been 
widely purchased by drug dealers to make methamphetamine--the use of 
which has gone up more than 150 percent in the last decade.

A House measure expected to pass in coming weeks would require stores 
to keep pills such as Sudafed--which contain pseudoephedrine, an 
ingredient used in making meth--in a locked cabinet behind a counter. 
Consumers would be limited to 3.6 grams, or about 120 pills, per day, 
and 9 grams, or about 300 pills, per month. Purchasers would also 
have to show identification and sign a logbook.

Government drug-fighters have rarely faced a threat like this: an 
extremely dangerous stimulant, causing violent and paranoid behavior, 
which can be made using relatively cheap and widely available cold medicines.

In an attempt to fight the meth plague without overburdening millions 
of cold sufferers, lawmakers are effectively preparing a new way for 
drugs to be sold--not requiring a prescription, but with many restrictions.

These measures would mirror actions already taken by some states, 
including Illinois.

"We need to make it more difficult for criminals to buy these 
chemicals, but we don't need to make it impossible for law-abiding 
families to buy cold medicine at the drugstore," said Rep. Joe Barton 
(R-Texas), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "The 
bill before us hopefully strikes a balance between these two competing needs."

Not everyone agrees. Some say the extra requirements will invade 
consumers' privacy and may cost them money while doing little to 
fight meth, since most of it, they say, is made in large "factory" 
labs, not the smaller labs that use cold and allergy pills.

"Requiring law-abiding citizens to give out personal information to 
buy cold medicine won't reduce the availability of methamphetamine or 
the harms associated with methamphetamine abuse," said Bill Piper, 
director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which 
opposes the administration's policies in the war on drugs.

Passing On The Costs

Mary Ann Wagner, a senior vice president with the National 
Association of Chain Drug Stores, added that the regulations may 
increase costs for consumers.

"We do know that when it's happened in the states, there is a cost in 
asking clerks to sell the product out of locked cabinets and log the 
transaction," Wagner said. "It takes time, and time is money."

But on the whole, she said, retailers understand the need to curb the 
meth epidemic.

Congress is "looking at important controls," she said. "There are a 
lot of things in there that will be very helpful to the overall meth problem."

In addition to cold medicines, meth can be made with such other 
common items as household cleaners and coffee filters. Producing one 
batch of meth--about a pound--usually costs less than $100 in 
materials and can be sold for more than $1,000, according to the U.S. 
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The drug can be snorted, smoked, injected or taken orally. Its rush 
can be felt in as little as five minutes and can last for up to 12 hours.

According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more 
than 12 million Americans age 12 and older said they had used meth at 
least once in their lifetime--a 156 percent increase from 1996.

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said those numbers don't approach the levels 
of marijuana use in the U.S., but meth's effects are much more dangerous.

"This is corrosive," Biden said recently. "You send a cop to go bust 
up a marijuana-smoking party, they walk in, show their badge and 
everybody goes, 'Oh, OK.' You walk into a meth lab, you'd better be 
prepared to be shot, you'd better be prepared to have at least three 
officers with you to take one [meth user] down."

Over the past few years, 37 states have passed laws to limit 
purchases of cold medicines containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, 
which are decongestants, with laws pending in Ohio and Massachusetts.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation Nov. 16 requiring 
pills with those ingredients to be kept behind counters and sold only 
at pharmacies. Also, only two packages of the pills can be purchased 
at one time. The law takes effect Jan. 15.

Liquid medicines with pseudoephedrine are not limited because they 
cannot be used to make meth.

Barton attached an amendment to the bill that ensures the federal 
legislation would not override state laws that impose tougher 
restrictions on pseudoephedrine sales.

Officials in Oklahoma, the first state to restrict cold medicine 
sales, say the state had 80 percent fewer meth labs after its law 
took effect. Oregon passed the toughest law this year by requiring a 
prescription for the cold remedies.

Several states mandate that only pharmacists can sell the medicines, 
thereby prohibiting sales at some grocery and convenience stores. 
Retailers Target and Wal-Mart already require cold medicines to be 
kept behind the counter.

And Pfizer Inc., the maker of Sudafed and other cold medicines, has 
said it plans to alter the formula of up to half of its line, using 
another drug that is impossible to convert to meth.

On a national level, Biden criticized the current and former Bush 
administrations, as well as the Clinton administration, for not doing 
enough to address meth use. This month, the government's drug control 
policy office began running television ads in 23 cities to warn 
viewers about the drug's effects.

Anti-Meth Caucuses

Congress has made fighting meth use a priority this year. In the 
House, 130 members formed an anti-meth caucus as did 35 senators.

Though several House members originally opposed a monthly limit on 
purchases, Sens. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), 
who proposed a 7.5-gram monthly limit, said they would block any bill 
without one. The Senate approved its bill in September, and the House 
bill incorporates similar language.

The production of 1 pound of meth results in poisonous gases and 
creates 5 to 7 pounds of toxic waste, according to the drug control 
policy office. The House provision would authorize the Environmental 
Protection Agency to fund the cleanup of illegal meth labs.

"It probably comes as no surprise that the crooks who cook up illegal 
methamphetamine in illegal labs do not heed any environmental 
restrictions on the disposal of byproducts," Barton said.

The law would also toughen penalties for anyone who makes meth where 
a child resides. About 30 percent of all meth labs are found where a 
child lives, according to the drug control policy office.
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