Pubdate: Wed, 2 Dec 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Referenced: The bill as currently amended http://drugsense.org/url/ctPHCqnR

THE WRONG FIX FOR METH LABS

Each time a proposal comes along that would diminish our privacy to 
further a social good, society's job is to ask whether that good 
outweighs another stricture on our lives. A proposed state database 
to track our purchases of various cold and allergy remedies is 
designed to cut down on illegal methamphetamine manufacture -- a 
well-intentioned attempt to fight back at a drug that has become a 
law enforcement nightmare. But this legislation is unlikely to 
achieve enough benefits to make its downsides worthwhile.

Assembly Bill 1455 would require people to sign an electronic log and 
provide identification each time they want to buy pseudoephedrine or 
any of a host of other medications that can be used to manufacture 
methamphetamine. Stores would receive instant alerts on customers who 
already had purchased their legal limit and would be prohibited from 
selling them more.

Pseudoephedrine, better known by the brand name Sudafed, already is 
kept behind the drugstore counter in California, though no 
prescription is required for it. Pharmacists are supposed to keep a 
written record of transactions, including buyers' identifying 
information, but not all of them do. And meth lab operators have 
skirted the law by sending crews of buyers to different stores to 
stock up on the medications.

AB 1455 would make things harder for clandestine meth manufacturers, 
but just as they have with the current law, many would find ways 
around this one. They might recruit a larger network of buyers or buy 
from contacts in areas where laws are looser. Worse, they might 
expand into identity theft so that each buyer could make more 
purchases. It's also unclear to what extent law enforcement would 
track the purchases of law-abiding citizens and whether and when they 
might find themselves being questioned about their pseudoephedrine 
consumption. That's not a trivial worry: An Indiana woman was 
arrested in July after she legitimately bought two different cold 
medications within a week for her husband and adult daughter. The 
potential for hacking of the database is another concern.

The number of meth superlabs -- dangerous operations that use barrels 
of toxic materials -- has fallen dramatically nationwide in recent 
years. Most of the illegal methamphetamine sold in this country is 
manufactured in Mexico. AB 1455 targets the "one-pot" operations in 
which people make small amounts of the highly addictive drug for 
personal consumption or sale to a few others. Tighter restrictions 
might somewhat reduce the number of small operators, but would not 
significantly reduce methamphetamine use. The potential downsides for 
law-abiding consumers outweigh the theoretical advantages of the 
proposed database. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake