Pubdate: Wed, 03 Apr 2002
Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2002 The Modesto Bee
Contact:  http://www.modbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271
Author: Jim Miller
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

BILL TO BOOST METH PENALTIES FAILS TEST

SACRAMENTO -- Legislation that would take a harder line against people 
found with methamphetamine ingredients failed its first test Tuesday.

The bill by Assemblyman Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, faltered on a 3-2 vote in 
the Assembly Public Safety Committee, one vote short of passage. The 
legislation is due to be reconsidered later this month.

Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are ingredients in nasal decongestants and 
asthma medications. They also are needed to manufacture methamphetamine. 
Drug cooks acquire huge amounts of ephedrine- containing pills and inhalers 
from foreign and domestic suppliers and then extract the meth-making 
components.

Under existing law, a person found with large amounts of ephedrine and 
pseudoephedrine faces misdemeanor charges. Cogdill's bill would make 
possessing a half-pound or more a felony. The legislation also would 
increase fines and prison terms for extracting ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.

Its failure Tuesday reflected concerns by some safety panel members that 
making it a felony to have meth ingredients -- without authorities having 
to show that the person intended to make the drug -- could lead to 
prosecution of innocent people.

Additionally, the safety committee is controlled by Democrats. Most bills 
by GOP lawmakers stalled in the committee Tuesday.

"We thought we had the votes there," Cogdill said afterward. One of the 
bill's co-authors, San Jose Democrat Manny Diaz, a member of the committee, 
did not vote for the bill.

"I'm not sure at this point what it is he wants to see. The whole thing 
kind of hit us flat-footed," Cogdill said.

A Diaz spokeswoman said later that the lawmaker wants to work with 
committee staff and Cogdill on changing the bill.

Cogdill's measure is one of the few meth-related pieces of legislation 
introduced this year. In 2001, methamphetamine was the subject of several 
bills.

Attorney General Bill Lock-yer, a Democrat, and state law enforcement 
associations have come out in support of the bill.

Cogdill referred to one bust that yielded 3,700 decongestant tablets. "This 
would be enough pills to cure the allergy problem of an entire county," he 
said.

Valley law enforcement officials, who helped Cogdill craft the bill, said 
they need a way to prosecute people who, they contend, clearly are involved 
in the meth trade.

In March 2000, authorities stopped a sport utility vehicle in Tulare County 
and found a duffel bag with more than 250 pounds of pseudoephedrine in it. 
But the driver, a Los Angeles resident, denied knowledge of the pills. 
Around the same time, Stanislaus County authorities stopped a vehicle that 
contained more than 160 pounds of pseudoephedrine.

The pseudoephedrine in both vehicles came from a Salida supplier. All the 
people involved were charged with conspiracy to make methamphetamine.

But a state Supreme Court decision requires that prosecutors prove that 
defendants intended to make methamphetamine. There was no evidence of 
intent in the cases two years ago, and the felony charges were dropped.

"Once these pills are removed from their over-the-counter containers and 
placed in bulk, in garbage bags, to the extent that we had in this case, 
this pseudoephedrine was going to be used for evil purposes," said Steve 
Jacobson, an investigator in the Stanislaus County district attorney's office.

Jacobson said meth manufacturers often buy pseudoephedrine tablets in bulk 
on the black market in Canada and elsewhere or they send several people to 
stores to each buy the maximum number of packages of decongestant -- three 
per person -- permitted under the law.

A typical ephedrine tablet is about one-third ephedrine. The rest is 
filler. A gram of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine can produce three- quarters 
of a gram of methamphetamine.

Also Tuesday, the Public Safety Committee blocked Cogdill- authored 
legislation to increase penalties for possessing weapons of mass destruction.

The bill is part of a Republican anti-terrorism package. Only one of the 
package's four bills -- legislation to increase penalties for money 
laundering -- emerged from the committee Tuesday. The others are up for 
reconsideration.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom