Pubdate: Sun, 03 Jul 2005
Source: Rome News-Tribune (GA)
Copyright: 2005sRome News-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.romenews-tribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1716
Author: Diane Wagner
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

STATE METH LAW GOES INTO EFFECT

Floyd Can Still Enforce Its Stricter Ordinance Through End Of Year

Retailers in Floyd County are continuing to ask cold-medicine customers to 
show identification and sign a log, despite a less restrictive state law 
that went into effect on Friday.

The law -- aimed at halting the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine -- 
supersedes all local ordinances, but those on the books before Jan. 1 can 
be enforced through the end of the year.

The Floyd County Commission approved its ordinance in December 2004.

David Reeps, commander of the Rome-Floyd County Metro Task Force, said the 
number of illegal meth labs in the county dropped to one this year, 
compared with 11 during the same six-month period last year.

"I can't say the ordinance is the total reason, but I do think it helped," 
Reeps said. "Our commission and (county) manager gave us something to work 
with, and the state came in and took it away from us."

Floyd County Police Chief Bill Shiflett said the lack of a record-keeping 
requirement makes the state law less effective than the local version.

"We've received a lot of names of people who visit these stores quite 
often, so it's been an intelligence-gathering operation for us," Shiflett 
said. "We haven't made any cases yet, but we're creating a database to keep 
track of activity."

The Rome City Commission's ordinance mirrored the county's but was not 
adopted until March, so it expired Friday. Rome police Chief Hubert Smith 
said the city ordinance's provisions contained deterrents not present in 
the state law.

"If you're going to buy something to make something illegal, you don't want 
to give out information about yourself," the city police chief said.

Better than nothing

But not all jurisdictions had local ordinances governing pseudoephedrine 
sales, and the new state law is welcome to officials in those areas.

LaFayette Police Chief Dino Richardson chairs the Lookout Mountain Drug 
Task Force that covers Walker, Catoosa, Chattooga and Dade counties.

"We were a big advocate in getting the law passed," Richardson said. "I 
would have liked it to be a little tougher, but it's a start."

LaFayette has another meth-fighting tool not affected by the state law, he 
said. The city, which owns the local utilities, shuts off service to 
residences housing meth labs until a certified cleanup is completed.

"We went from an average of one a week to one every other month or so," 
Richardson said.

State Rep. Barbara Massey Reece, D-Menlo, said the House study committee 
she sat on recommended a law requiring identification and a signature but 
compromised to ensure passage.

"You have to realize the problem is not as predominant in other sections of 
the state as it is here," she said.

In the Polk County district of state Rep. Bill Cummings, D-Rockmart, there 
were initial concerns restrictions would inconvenience legitimate shoppers. 
But Cummings said he's had no complaints from an electorate that realizes 
the drug is spreading like wildfire.

Richardson said the fears are justified. Addiction can come from a single 
use, and manufacturing directions are readily available on the Internet.

"It's so easy to make, and it's more habit-forming than cocaine," he said.

Reece said an important provision in the state law requires retailers to 
buy pseudoephedrine only from licensed wholesalers, and the wholesalers 
must keep records.

"Law enforcement will have the right to check those invoices to see where 
unusually large amounts are being sold," she said.

Interstate forces play a role

State Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, initially opposed the preemption language 
in the bill that lets the state version trump local ordinances. However, he 
said testimony during Georgia General Assembly hearings convinced him it 
was appropriate in this case.

"Different communities were using different standards and the (national) 
retailers, and business owners couldn't keep track of which stores could 
carry what," he said. "They were saying they wouldn't ship to Georgia 
unless there was a uniform standard."

The law likely will be strengthened in the future, Smith said, after the 
impact of the current measure is gauged.

Reeps is pessimistic about the impact, saying Alabama and Tennessee 
recently enacted tougher laws than Georgia's, and North Carolina is in the 
process of drafting one as well.

"We'll have them all coming down here before long," he said about the 
illegal labs.

Larry Wilson, sheriff of Cherokee County, Ala., indicated Reeps could be 
correct in his assessment. Wilson said he is expecting a lot of help from a 
law -- effective in August -- that will allow only pharmacists to sell 
pseudoephedrine and require buyers to sign a log.

As Alabama moves toward restrictions slightly tougher than those in Floyd 
County, it is rejecting old provisions similar to Georgia's new law.

"The only thing we had before is that they were supposed to keep 
(pseudoephedrine) behind a counter," Wilson said. "It didn't help much 
because we didn't know who was getting it."

State Rep. Paul Smith, D-Rome, said some merchants have complained the 
Georgia law goes too far, but it is unlikely the current restrictions will 
do more than slow the growth of illegal labs.

"The pseudoephedrine is just one of the problems," Rep. Smith said, naming 
several industrial cleaning products that are seeing an increase in bulk 
sales as ingredients. "The kids are killing themselves, but it's hard to 
outmaneuver folks who are willing to break the law."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom