Pubdate: Fri, 25 Feb 2005
Source: Duluth News-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2005 Duluth News-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthtribune/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/553
Author: Shelley Nelson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

BILL PUTS TIGHT REIN ON METH INGREDIENT

MADISON - Legislators are hoping to take a bite out of crime by limiting 
the sale of a cold medicine commonly used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Senate Bill 78 was formally introduced Wednesday. If adopted, it will place 
limits on where and how much pseudoephedrine can be bought in a 30-day 
period. It will also create penalties for possession of ingredients used to 
manufacture meth.

It would make pseudoephedrine a Schedule V drug, which can be sold at 
pharmacies only if the customer signs a registry and presents photo 
identification.

"The alarming trend in the use and manufacture of methamphetamine in 
Northwest Wisconsin is having a devastating impact -- destroying lives, 
increasing crime and placing huge costs on taxpayers," said Sen. Sheila 
Harsdorf, R-River Falls. "We must send a loud message that methamphetamine 
users and pushers are not welcome in Wisconsin."

Harsdorf said the goal behind the bill, which has been co-sponsored by 29 
legislators, is to allow people who use the medicine for legitimate 
purposes to buy it, while keeping large quantities out of the hands of 
people who cook meth.

Pseudoephedrine is the key ingredient in more than 30 variations of meth.

"It's a growing problem, there's no doubt about it," Police Chief Floyd 
Peters said of methamphetamine in Superior. "In and of itself, this 
legislation isn't going to solve our meth problems. We're making a mistake 
if we think it is. But it's one component of help that we need. If we can 
take that one group of problems out, we can focus our efforts on imported 
meth."

Over the past five years, the number of meth cases in Wisconsin has 
increased more than 500 percent.

Peters said the new legislation could help keep Wisconsin from becoming an 
island where meth manufacturers could get the ingredients to make the 
highly addictive drug.

The Minnesota Legislature is working on a package of bills that would make 
it more difficult to buy the ingredients for methamphetamine. One bill, to 
be voted on by the Minnesota Senate next week, pushes most cold medicines 
used to make the drug behind the counter. The legislation limits the amount 
of such medicines a person can buy at a time and requires buyers to show 
identification.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he will support all efforts aimed at 
limiting production and use of meth.

With the Minnesota Legislature working on its legislation, Harsdorf said, 
policymakers feared that meth-makers would be pushed over into Wisconsin.

"We know the run for the border is going to be devastating for us," said 
Rep. Kitty Rhoades, R-Hudson, lead author of the bill. Though efforts to 
control the sale of anhydrous ammonia, a liquid fertilizer used in meth, 
helped contain the problem for a while, Rhoades said, more needs to be done 
to keep the problem from spreading.

It makes sense to have legislation in place that is similar to that in 
surrounding states, said Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager. But 
laws alone won't be enough to combat the problem, she said. Treatment, 
education and law enforcement will all be needed, Lautenschlager said.

Local law enforcement officials agree. Federal money for law enforcement is 
shrinking even as the problem is growing, Peters said.

"It's been escalating," said Douglas County Sheriff Tom Dalbec. "It's 
getting to be more and more of a problem -- daily, actually. There's more 
and more possession of it."

The drug alone isn't the only problem. Dalbec and Peters both say the meth 
problem results in more property crimes and violent crimes, including 
home-invasion burglaries, financial crimes and domestic violence.

Any obstacle the Legislature can create to block easy access to meth-making 
chemicals will help, said Douglas County District Attorney Dan Blank.

Blank hesitated to say Douglas County is facing an epidemic of meth use, 
but he said he is disturbed by the number of cases his office is prosecuting.

Cocaine, crack and other drugs traditionally never equalled the number of 
cases for marijuana in Douglas County; however, Blank said: "I'm seeing as 
many meth cases as marijuana. That regularity and frequency is scary."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake