Pubdate: Wed, 22 Feb 2006
Source: Sanford Herald, The (NC)
Copyright: The Sanford Herald 2006
Contact:  http://www.sanfordherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1577
Author: Gordon Anderson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

LOCAL IMPACT NOT FELT ON NEW ANTI-METH LAW

SANFORD - Consumers are seeing with their own eyes the effects of a 
new anti-methamphetamine state law every time they go to the pharmacy.

The law, which took effect in January, requires that all products 
containing pseudoephedrine - such as Sudafed - be kept behind the 
counter and sold in small amounts.

Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in methamphetamine, a potent form 
of speed which can be produced in makeshift home "laboratories."

Under the law, which restricts the purchase of more than two or three 
packages of any product containing pseudoephedrine, purchasers are 
required to sign a log kept behind the counter at each pharmacy. 
Purchasers are also required to be 18 years of age, show 
identification and restricted from buying more than three packages of 
any pseudoephedrine-containing product in a 30-day period.

Although local authorities haven't seen many meth labs in the area, 
North Carolina has experienced a growing problem in recent years. In 
1999, the first year that meth labs were reported in North Carolina, 
State Bureau of Investigation agents discovered nine labs. That 
number has skyrocketed, with agents busting 322 labs in 2004 and 328 
labs in 2005.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper spent much of 2005 pushing 
legislators to pass the law after hearing about 19 other states that 
have had success with it. In Oklahoma, authorities reported an 81 
percent drop in meth lab seizures since passing a similar law in 
2004. Several other states are considering similar legislation.

Both of Sanford's representatives in state government - Rep. John 
Sauls, R-Lee and Democratic Sen. Bob Atwater, D-Chatham - voted in 
support of the legislation.

Some local pharmacists said the law hasn't had much affect here, 
since methamphetamine hasn't been a big problem locally.

Kim Allen, a pharmacist at Kerr Drug on Wicker Street, said his 
customers weren't buying many pseudoephedrine-containing products 
before the law was passed anyway.

"I'd say people are buying less of it now," Allen said, noting that 
"it's much easier to walk up and buy something else without any hassle."

Allen also pointed out that "there are other products with ephedrine 
that we don't have to keep behind the counter, like the liquids and 
the gel caps."

Pseudoephedrine in liquid and gel cap form cannot be converted into 
methamphetamine.

Allen said his chief complaint with the new law is that although 
consumers are required to sign a log that details their name, 
address, the product they bought and how much they bought, there 
doesn't seem to be anything behind it.

"I don't know who's going to check this," he said. "And there's no 
real way of telling whether someone (buying 
pseudoephedrine-containing products) has already been to another store."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman