Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 Source: Messenger-Inquirer (KY) Copyright: 2004 Messenger-Inquirer Contact: http://www.messenger-inquirer.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1285 Author: Steve Vied Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) YONTS WOULD TIGHTEN LAW ON MAKING METH Supreme Court Ruling Prompts Push For Change FRANKFORT -- Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors will have an easier time charging and convicting methamphetamine makers if legislation before the House of Representatives is enacted, backers of a consolidated bill say. No vote was taken in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, but primary sponsor Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, said he expected it to be approved by the committee when it meets next week after a bit more tweaking. Yonts sponsored House Bill 24, which specifies that possession of two or more chemicals and two or more pieces of equipment with intent to manufacture methamphetamine is unlawful. Rep. Jack Coleman, D-Bergen, and Rep. Buddy Buckingham, D-Murray, filed similar bills. Yonts and Rep. Reginald Meeks, D-Louisville, filed bills placing stricter controls on ephedrine and like substances, which are used to make methamphetamine. The bills were prompted by last summer's Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that said suspects must have all -- not just some -- of the necessary ingredients before being charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, a cheap but highly addictive drug. All of the various bills were rolled into one bill that says that suspects can be charged with methamphetamine violations when in possession of just two meth-making ingredients and equipment to make it with. The bill says that a person is guilty of possession of methamphetamine precursors when he or she possesses a drug containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, red phosphorus, lithium not in a battery and anhydrous ammonia not in a proper container with the intent to make meth. Possession of two or more precursors together with necessary equipment is enough evidence to prove the intent to manufacture meth. An amendment offered by Yonts would make it illegal to possess only two or more chemicals and two or more items of equipment at the same time, with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Gale Cook, president of the Kentucky Commonwealths Attorneys Association and the commonwealth's attorney for Calloway and Marshall counties, said law enforcement agencies and prosecutors need more tools to fight methamphetamine. "Three years ago people cooked meth for their own use," she said. "Now, people manufacture who do not use it and sell it wholesale to middle level distributors. Their organization has enforcers who collect. ... With meth, we're moving into areas of organized crime we have not seen." W. Robert Lotz, an attorney and legislative director for the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, objected to a part of the bill that he said treats a person who possesses a meth precursor the same as a person in possession of the drug itself. "We don't need to concentrate on giant hammers," Lotz said. "Prosecutors have enough weapons. ... A person in a car with coffee filters and cotton balls is subject to arrest and search." Rep. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, said she was concerned about individual rights being violated by a law that creates a dragnet and could involve innocent people. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin