Pubdate: Sat, 24 Sep 2005
Source: Lake County Record-Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Record-Bee
Contact:  http://www.record-bee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3384
Author: Denise Rockenstein, Clear Lake Observer-American
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

COUNCIL ADOPTS METH ORDINANCE

CLEARLAKE -- The Clearlake City Council passed an ordinance at its 
Thursday night meeting regulating the sale of products containing 
pseudoephedrine, a primary ingredient in the production of methamphetamine.

The ordinance establishes criteria for over-the-counter sales of 
medications such as cold medicine containing the drug, which city 
leaders believe will help in the fight against illegal drugs.

On Sept. 13, the county's board of supervisors passed a similar 
ordinance, the first of its kind in the state.

The ordinance calls for behind-the-counter retail of products 
containing pseudoephedrine. It also imposes identification and 
logging requirements for customers purchasing the products.

Under the ordinance, consumers will be required to provide photo 
identification, current address and telephone number. Buyer's name, 
date and quantity purchased are included in the logging requirements as well.

The written log of purchasers will be made available to the Lake 
County Narcotic Drug Task Force or other local law enforcement 
authorities pursuant to a lawful search warrant or subpoena issued by 
judicial process.

Any person (described as owner, manager, proprietor or employee in 
charge of any business selling any over-the-counter products 
containing pseudoephedrine) found in violation of the ordinance shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not to 
exceed $500 for each offense or by imprisonment in the county jail 
for a period of no more than six months, or by both such fine or imprisonment.

Lake County and the city of Clearlake join the company of the state 
of Oklahoma where a statewide ban exists for over-the-counter sales 
of medications used to produce meth. However, in Oklahoma, the 
medications are available only through a pharmacist.

Similar bills have been introduced at state and federal levels; 
believing those attempts at legislation have been hamstrung by 
special interests, District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington, who 
spearheaded the regulations, brought the effort directly to local 
jurisdictions.

"It's an issue that has brought us all together," Farrington told the 
council on Thursday.

Farrington said legislators in several other states are looking to 
establish similar bills. He also indicated that he will introduce the 
regulations to Lake County's neighboring jurisdictions.

Limiting access to products containing pseudoephedrine will ideally 
lessen the number of clandestine labs producing meth in Lake County. 
These labs makeshift operations often erected in homes where there 
are children present severe environmental hazards endangering the 
health and safety of the community.

"We have the benefit of making homes safer, where children live 
exposed to chemicals," said Clearlake Police Chief Bob Chalk on Sept. 
8 when the ordinance was originally introduced at the Clearlake City 
Council meeting. "Somebody's got to start some place and if you could 
start here, it would really help the community."

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, clandestine 
laboratories in California and Mexico are the primary sources of 
methamphetamine available in the United States.

A report by the National Association of Counties, which was included 
in an informational package provided by Farrington, states that close 
to 60 percent of county officials reported that methamphetamine 
represents their county's largest drug problem, with a reported 
87-percent increase in meth-related arrests in the last three years.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman