Pubdate: Thu, 03 Feb 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Author: Deborah Yetter, The Courier-Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Note: Only publishes local LTEs

BILL LIMITS SALE OF DRUGS USED TO MAKE METH

Kentucky Measure Also Toughens Existing Law

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Hoping to curb the spread of methamphetamine in
Kentucky, state officials said yesterday that they are filing
legislation to restrict sales of cold and allergy medicine that can be
used to make the illegal drug. The bill also seeks to strengthen a law
used to prosecute meth manufacturers, create a law making it illegal
to make meth in the presence of children, and hold meth makers liable
for the cost of cleaning up labs.

"This fits in with the governor's vision to comprehensively address
the growing drug problem in this state," said Lt. Gov. Steve Pence,
who announced the administration's bill at a news conference with Gov.
Ernie Fletcher.

Under Senate Bill 63, customers buying such medicine as Sudafed would
have to show a government photo identification, such as a driver's
license, and sign a log.

Pharmacists and other drug retailers would be required to keep such
drugs behind the counter and sales would be restricted to 9 grams per
person per month -- about 300 30-milligram Sudafed pills. Those
medicines contain pseudoephedrine, which is used for making meth.

Several people who said they were former meth users attended
yesterday's announcement and said they support the administration's
efforts but that meth is such an addictive drug -- and so cheap and
easy to make -- it will be hard to eradicate.

"Anything we can do is great," said LaVonda Muncy of Paducah, who
completed a drug court program. "It's got to stop. It ruins so many
lives."

"When you get on meth, you don't care about anything or anybody," said
Muncy, 42, who said she has been off the drug for four years.

The bill could get a hearing as early as today before the Senate
Judiciary Committee, whose chairman is the sponsor of the legislation,
Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester.

Jan Gould, a Kentucky Retail Federation official, said he thinks the
bill's restriction on otherwise legal medicine goes too far.

"It restricts access to a legitimate product," he said.

Rep. Gross Lindsay, D-Henderson, who is chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, said he hadn't seen the bill but was familiar
with it and believes lawmakers are anxious to address the problem.

"I think any legislation that will facilitate stopping the spread of
meth has a good chance," he said.

Modeled on Oklahoma law

The Courier-Journal reported in a three-day series in December that
meth is accelerating its spread through Kentucky and Indiana, clogging
courts, filling jails and prisons, ravaging families and escalating
demand for treatment. The series also found that Kentucky had failed
to keep pace with other states in restricting access to drugs
containing pseudoephedrine.

A Courier-Journal analysis of circuit court records showed meth
indictments for manufacturing and trafficking in the drug grew across
Kentucky to 1,854 this fiscal year, from 336 cases in 1998-99, a 452
percent increase.

Although there are no firm numbers available for all children removed
from parents because of meth addiction, Kentucky State Police reported
finding 66 living at or around meth labs last year. Far more were
removed from homes because of abuse or neglect stemming from
meth-addicted parents, officials said.

Officials said Stivers' bill would address those problems by imposing
tight controls on the sale of cold and allergy medications and making
it a crime to make meth around children.

And they used a Kroger pharmacy in Frankfort as the backdrop for
yesterday's announcement.

Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokesman Chris Gilligan said Kroger
officials expressed interest in the plan, noting that some of their
stores already restrict access to the drugs voluntarily.

The proposed law is modeled on an Oklahoma law viewed as one of the
toughest in the nation on restricting sale of products containing
pseudoephedrine. Oklahoma officials have cited a significant decrease
in meth lab busts since the law took effect last year.

Fletcher said the Oklahoma law has a "proven track
record."

Legislation to restrict pseudoephedrine sales also has been introduced
in Indiana.

Business objections

Pence said some Kentucky businesses might object to the restrictions,
but the administration believes they are necessary to slow production
of meth. Gould, senior vice president for government affairs for the
Kentucky Retail Federation, said his group -- which represents
drugstores throughout Kentucky -- hopes to work with lawmakers for a
less restrictive bill. He said they need to study the bill further.

Owensboro pharmacist Jeff Danhauer said his family-owned store already
keeps such medicine in sight of the pharmacist and limits customers to
one bottle of pills at a time.

He said he supports Stivers' bill.

"We've got to do something to get it under control," Danhauer said.
"It's hurting our society."

Targeting manufacturers

The bill also seeks to revise a law so that an individual can be
convicted of manufacturing meth if he or she has only some -- not all
- -- of the chemicals and equipment needed to make the drug. It would
allow conviction if an individual had two or more of the ingredients
or two or more items of equipment with the intent to manufacture an
illegal drug such as methamphetamine.

Gale Cook, commonwealth's attorney for Calloway and Marshall counties
in Western Kentucky, said that provision is important because drug
dealers familiar with the existing law have escaped prosecution by
breaking the process into parts or spreading out equipment and
ingredients.

Ernie Lewis, head of Kentucky's Department of Public Advocacy, said he
likes the bill's restriction on access to drugs containing
pseudoephedrine.

But he opposes allowing people possessing just two ingredients or
items to be convicted of manufacturing meth -- which carries a penalty
of 10 to 20 years in prison.

"I think they're going to capture a lot of innocent folks or
small-time folks," said Lewis, who oversees the state's system of
public defenders.
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