Pubdate: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 Source: Oklahoman, The (OK) Copyright: 2005 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318 Author: Chris Casteel METH MAKERS CROSS LINE TO AVOID LAW, SHERIFFS SAY WASHINGTON - Methamphetamine producers are buying ingredients in states bordering Oklahoma to evade the state's strict controls, two sheriffs said Thursday in calling for national legislation. Sheriff Johnny Philpot of Sequoyah County, which borders Arkansas, said law enforcement officials making meth-lab busts are finding sales receipts from Arkansas. "For Oklahoma's anti-meth effort to succeed fully, bordering states must also control pseudoephedrine," Philpot said in a statement. "Frankly we could benefit more from a national law." Philpot's concern was among the reasons Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, introduced legislation Thursday to impose federal controls on the sale of cold and sinus medicine containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine. Oklahoma passed a law in April requiring that over-the-counter drugs containing pseudoephedrine be obtained in a pharmacy; the law also limits one person's purchases to nine grams a month. The head of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics testified at a House committee hearing in November that there had been a dramatic drop in the number of meth labs seized since the law took effect. At that hearing, a Kansas sheriff testified he had heard reports of Oklahomans crossing into Kansas to buy medicines with pseudoephedrine. Thursday, Sheriff Dennis King of Ottawa County, which borders Kansas and Missouri, said lab seizures have dropped 75 percent in his county since the Oklahoma law passed, but ingredients are still being brought in from Arksansas and Kansas. Former Oklahoma Rep. Brad Carson introduced similar legislation last year, but it was stalled. Lawmakers might be more willing to pursue the issue in this Congress. Gov. Brad Henry, who was in Washington this week for a national governors conference, told reporters 31 states have passed laws controlling meth ingredient sales. But he said a national law would be more effective than a "patchwork" of state laws. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth