Pubdate: Thu, 14 Apr 2005
Source: Auburn Plainsman, The (Auburn U, AL Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The Auburn Plainsman
Contact:  http://www.theplainsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1880
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

DRUGS FROM DRUGS

Alabama has a drug problem.

According to police and legislators, our citizens are doing some 
old-fashioned Southern home cookin', but it ain't biscuits they're serving.

Meth labs are popping up all across the state, investigators say, 
particularly in rural areas. Recipes are just a Google away, and most of 
the ingredients can be found at grocery stores and pharmacies.

It's one of those ingredients that has state lawmakers concerned.

Pseudoephedrine is a common chemical in over-the-counter cold medicines 
like Sudafed. It's also a key in making methamphetamine.

The substance is already heavily regulated by most states, including 
Alabama. Any medicine containing 60 milligrams of pseudoephedrine per 
tablet as its sole active ingredient must be kept behind the counter.

Stores can't sell such products as loose tablets in bottles, but must 
package them in those annoying blister packs (because meth cooks apparently 
don't have time in their busy days to pop them out). You can't buy more 
than three packages, or 9 grams, of pseudoephedrine.

But that's not enough, according to state Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, 
state Rep. Frank McDaniel, D-Albertville, and dozens of co-sponsors. They 
want to require anyone purchasing pseudoephedrine-containing medicines to 
sign a register and present photo identification.

A few obvious points come to mind. If you're making and selling crystal 
meth, you probably know where to obtain a fake ID. Virtually everyone in 
this town knows how to get one.

This still doesn't stop anyone from sending several of their 
friends/customers to buy a few packages for them.

If police are scanning these registers for people buying cold medicine in 
multiple locations, that's a ridiculous invasion of individual medical 
privacy. If they already have evidence that someone is making crystal meth, 
they should obtain a search warrant based on that.

In short, this law does little to nothing to combat drug abuse and 
trafficking while burdening law-abiding consumers and merchants.

McDaniel's version of the bill, which the House passed Tuesday, goes even 
further in its stupidity. It would allow retailers to sell only two 
packages of pseudoepedrine-containing medicines, or 6 grams, at a time, and 
would require buyers to be at least 18.

It would place the same restrictions on tablets containing ephedrine (a 
close chemical cousin). And it would ban the sale of any such medicines 
that aren't formulated in a way to prevent their use in manufacturing meth 
by Oct. 1, 2009.

So unless enough states jump on the dumbwagon to induce pharmaceutical 
companies to reformulate their drugs, Alabamians had better eradicate the 
common cold by 2009.

But if they're serious about curbing meth use, there's an easy solution. 
(Sarcasm ahead, folks.)

The War on Drugs has long been based on racial and ethnic prejudices, since 
"Reefer Madness" told tales of pot-addled blacks and Hispanics raping white 
women.

Drug warriors could update those tales for the 21st century, and spread the 
reputation that meth is a "gay drug."

Recent reports out of New York linked meth-fueled sex parties to a possible 
new, virulent strain of AIDS in gay communities. Add that to the already 
idiotic D.A.R.E. curriculum, and homophobic Southern teenage boys would 
volunteer to raid meth labs themselves.

Ridiculous? Of course. We're not serious; this is a little exercise in 
reductio ad absurdum. But it's no less ridiculous than laws in question.

Focus on treatment programs proven to work. Encourage economic development 
in poor rural counties housing meth producers. Provide young people with 
honest, accurate information about the real dangers of methamphetamine.

But keep your damn hands off our Sudafed.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager