Pubdate: Thu, 16 Sep 2004
Source: Southeast Missourian (MO)
Copyright: 2004 Southeast Missourian
Contact:  http://www.semissourian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1322
Author: Linda Redeffer ~ Southeast Missourian
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

MISSOURI MAY FOLLOW OKLAHOMA'S LEAD ON METH

A law passed in April regulating the sale of products containing ephedrine 
- -- a chief ingredient in the production of methamphetamine -- is working in 
Oklahoma. Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan says he and other law 
enforcement officials plan to ask the Missouri Legislature to draft a 
similar law.

Oklahoma's law makes anything containing ephedrine a "schedule 5" drug. 
This means licensed pharmacies would be required to take it off their 
shelves and move it behind the counter, although it would not require a 
prescription. Anyone who wants to buy cold medicine or any other product 
with that ingredient would have to show identification and sign for it. 
Other retail outlets would have to have a license from the Drug Enforcement 
Administration and follow the same rule.

The transaction would be recorded into a database and tracked so meth 
producers couldn't go from one pharmacy to another buying up products 
containing ephedrine.

"It's pro-active to be doing something with ephedrine," Jordan said. "If 
you take ephedrine out of the equation, you can't make meth, bottom line."

Like Missouri, Oklahoma is inundated with meth labs. According to the DEA, 
law enforcement officers in Missouri took down 2,858 meth labs in 2003. 
This was the greatest number of lab seizures in the nation. In Oklahoma, 
which has a smaller population than Missouri by about 2 million, 894 meth 
labs were eradicated. Like Missouri, most of the meth cookers are people 
who make it for their own consumption. It is not a money-driven product.

According to Oklahoma Republican state Rep. John Nance, the situation came 
to a head when a firefighter from Duncan, Okla., became addicted to 
methamphetamine and killed a state trooper who caught him the day after 
Christmas last year cooking meth in his car parked by the side of the road. 
In total since 1999, three Oklahoma troopers died in meth-related cases.

"There was such an outcry from the public," Nance said. "Enough is enough."

Mark Woodward, a public information officer with the Oklahoma Bureau of 
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, said the effort started last 
September and was signed into law April 6, a fast track for any kind of 
legislation.

In September 2003, Woodward said, Nance agreed to hold a two-day interim 
study session involving law enforcement, district attorneys, and 
health-care professionals. The results all boiled down to one main point: 
They had to make ephedrine inaccessible if Oklahoma is going to curb meth 
production.

The bill was drafted and made its way hastily through the legislative 
chambers. It passed out of the House floor to the Senate committee by a 
unanimous vote.

"It was the only bill the governor mentioned in his state of the state 
address," Nance said. "He mentioned that bill specifically and said he 
wanted it on his desk as soon as possible."

Along the way, there was some opposition from pharmaceutical companies.

"They said we needed to try other things first, they tried to water down 
the bill," Woodward said. "We were able to convince the legislature that 
all those arguments, things had already been tried, simply do not work."

While the drug companies did their best to lobby against taking ephedrine 
off the shelves, convenience stores and grocery chains did not oppose it. 
Some consumers grumbled about the inconvenience, Nance said, but eventually 
came around.

"People can still get their cold medicine," Nance said. "I think it's a 
reasonable thing. Most retailers are happy about it."

The legislature and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics also knew they had 
some convenience stores right where they wanted them. Those store did not 
dare oppose the bill because they knew that authorities suspected where 
some meth-makers were getting their ephedrine.

"They could not say it will hurt business because they would have to admit 
that they were selling to meth cooks," Woodward said.

Research showed that in Oklahoma the average convenience store sold $20 to 
$30 worth of over-the-counter cold medicine a month. However, some stores 
that were charted showed they were selling between $40,000 to $70,000 in 
ephedrine-related products during that same period.

"In the last 10 years we've seen a 12,000 percent increase nationwide in 
pseudoephedrine, but we have not seen a 12,000 percent increase in colds," 
Woodward said.

Since the law went into effect, Woodward said the results were immediate 
and impressive -- a drop of 30 percent to 50 percent in the number of meth 
labs seized.

Woodward said this success doesn't mean there are fewer people using meth. 
He knows, especially at Oklahoma's borders, they're simply crossing into 
neighboring states to make their drug. He said that people desperate to use 
meth will find other ways of getting it.

Jordan said those interested in proposing the bill in Missouri have 
considered that possibility.

"Where you have a demand, you will always have a supply," he said.

Making meth production more difficult will open up the market for imported 
meth. Jordan said law enforcement has already seen some imported meth 
coming in from Mexico. Importing would give law enforcement a better chance 
at making arrests that can be prosecuted at the federal level, and 
involving the federal DEA. Jordan and Woodward agree that meth would also 
become more expensive to buy if it could not be readily made.

Woodward said he hopes neighboring states follow Oklahoma's lead. Kansas 
and Texas are looking seriously at it. He said he was glad to hear Missouri 
might also.

Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, South Dakota 
and Iowa have asked Oklahoma's drug enforcement bureau to come talk about 
how to proceed with a similar law. Nance said he has even heard from 
legislators in Hawaii and New York, and that the U.S. "drug czar" John 
Walters is watching Oklahoma's success rate with an eye toward pursuing a 
similar law at the federal level.

Woodward said Oklahoma is proud to be the leader in what seems to be a sure 
way of curbing some of the meth production.

"At the same time it's frustrating that it got to this point," he said. "It 
took a lot of work, and it took a lot of tragedy to get to this point."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager