Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
Source: Messenger-Inquirer (KY)
Copyright: 2002 Messenger-Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.messenger-inquirer.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1285
Author: James Mayse
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH BILL PRAISED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

Area law enforcement officials praised a new Kentucky law Monday afternoon 
that provides stiff penalties for people caught with large amounts of drugs 
used to make methamphetamine.

The legislation, House Bill 644, makes it a Class D felony to possess more 
than 24 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. The drugs, which are found 
in common cold or allergy medicines, are common ingredients in methamphetamine.

Officials discussed the bill Monday at a press conference at the Daviess 
County Judicial Center.

Rep. Brian Crall, an Owensboro Republican, sponsored the bill in Frankfort. 
In the past, Crall said, law enforcement officials have not been convicting 
people caught with large quantities of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, 
because prosecutors could not prove the defendant intended to use the drugs 
to make methamphetamine.

"It was difficult to prosecute because it was difficult to prove intent," 
Crall said. Because the statutes didn't specifically say possession of 
large amounts of ephedrine was a crime, "law enforcement's hands were 
tied," Crall said.

"What (the law) attempts to do is give law enforcement officials the 
opportunity to have another tool in their belt" in the fight against 
methamphetamine, Crall said.

Under the new law, possession of more than 24 grams of pseudoephedrine or 
ephedrine will constitute "prima facie" evidence of intent to manufacture 
methamphetamine. The law also applies to people who unlawfully distribute 
more than 24 grams of the substances to others, Crall said.

People charged under the law would still face a court trial, said Daviess 
County Sheriff Keith Cain.

"It still leaves law enforcement the task of proving beyond a reasonable 
doubt" that a person intended to manufacture methamphetamine, Cain said. 
Cain said 24 grams of pseudoephedrine is more than a person or a family 
would purchase at one time. "That's roughly three months worth of the 
medication," he said. "It's ludicrous for me or for anyone else to believe 
they would need that large a quantity of the drug" unless a person were 
making meth, he said.

John Kazlauskas, acting chief of the Owensboro Police Department, said 
methamphetamine addiction leads to other types of crime.

"We know the majority of crimes against property and (against people) are 
drug-related," Kazlauskas said. "In our community, we know those crimes are 
being driven by the manufacture of methamphetamine and other drugs."

Crall said the new law will not target people who buy small amounts of 
ephedrine of pseudoephedrine for normal uses.

"What we didn't want to do was infringe in any way on citizens' rights to 
get this very legitimate drug," Crall said.
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