Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jul 2005
Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright: 2005 Amarillo Globe-News
Contact:  http://amarillonet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

FEDS STEP UP TO HELP BATTLE LOCAL METH WOES

Panhandle law enforcement's campaign against methamphetamine manufacture 
has gotten some valuable help.

It has come in the form of two congressional measures designed to halt the 
flood of pseudoephedrine to Mexican meth labs. The ingredient is critical 
to the production of meth.

One measure requires the U.S. State Department to analyze imports of 
pseudoephedrine by Mexico to determine its legitimate demand. The other 
measure would require American officials to work with Mexican officials to 
reduce the illicit smuggling of pseudophedrine.

The Panhandle sits only a stone's throw from the Mexican border and has 
become a major corridor for the drugs and the ingredients critical to their 
manufacture. It's no coincidence, for instance, that the Department of 
Public Safety's Amarillo division leads the state in the rate of 
drug-related arrests along the Interstate 40 corridor.

Meantime, Panhandle lawmen are dismantling meth labs almost daily and 
arresting those suspected of engaging in this dangerous activity.

Some states, such as neighboring Oklahoma, have adopted laws regulating the 
sale of pseudophedrine. Those laws provide significant help. The feds, 
though, need to step up as well.

The U.S. House of Representatives has acted with dispatch to give local law 
enforcement the help it needs. It's time for the Senate to follow suit.
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MAP posted-by: Beth