Pubdate: Sat, 03 Dec 2005
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Copyright: 2005 Columbia Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.columbiatribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/91
Note: Prints the street address of LTE writers.
Author: Sara Agnew
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

TALENT AIMS FOR FEDERAL VERSION OF STATE METH LAW

City Detective Sees Communications Gap In Statute

U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., stopped in Columbia yesterday to assure 
local law enforcement officials that federal help is on the way in 
the fight against methamphetamine.

In a news conference at the Columbia Police Department, Talent said 
he hopes a bill he co-sponsored to limit the sale of over-the-counter 
cold remedies will become law by the end of the year.

"This will raise the visibility of methamphetamine on a federal 
level," Talent told about a dozen local law enforcement officials. 
"Meth is the single worst drug threat I've ever seen."

The Combat Meth Act would restrict all forms of pseudoephedrine, 
including those in gel and liquid forms. Customers would be limited 
to buying 7.5 grams - or about 250 30-milligram pills - in a 30-day 
period. Consumers would have to show photo IDs and sign logs, and 
computer tracking would prevent customers from exceeding the limit at 
other stores. The bill also would provide for rapid-response teams 
that could help children endangered by meth abuse.

Talent estimated that the annual cost of enacting the bill would be 
about $120 million.

Giving pharmacies a way of sharing information might address the 
problem Columbia police Detective Ron Hall said he sees with a meth 
law enacted this summer in Missouri.

The state law, which took effect July 15, restricts the amount of 
pseudoephedrine a person can buy to no more than 9 grams every 30 
days. That's about three 100-count boxes of 30-milligram-strength Sudafed.

Under the federal bill, the medicine would be required to be kept in 
a restricted area.

Like the proposed federal bill, the state law requires customers to 
show picture IDs and sign logbooks. However, the state law only 
applies to the pill form of the medicine, not gel caps or liquids, 
and it doesn't give stores any way to communicate their sales with one another.

In other words, a consumer can go from store to store, buying his or 
her 30-day limit at each.

"There's just no way" for the stores to share information, said Hall, 
who is a member of the Mid-Missouri Unified Strike Team and Narcotics 
Group, a multiagency drug enforcement group. Buyers "can hit up more 
than one store."

Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm said that overall, the new state 
law appears to be working well, but "it's still too early to tell."

In 2004, federal drug officials reported 2,788 meth labs were 
discovered in Missouri - more than in any other state - which was 16 
percent of all labs seized in the nation.

In Boone County, 24 labs were busted in 2002, eight in 2003 and 14 in 2004.

Hall said that in Columbia, 11 labs were found in 2004 and seven have 
been busted so far this year.

"It looks like the legislation slows it down," he said.

Talent said the federal bill would increase sentencing for drug 
kingpins and crack down on imports of pseudoephedrine. The proposed 
bill is tied to the Patriot Act, which Talent said has been somewhat 
controversial but a bill "everyone wants to pass."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman