Pubdate: Fri, 04 Mar 2005
Source: Meridian Star, The (MS)
Copyright: 2005 Meridian Star
Contact:  http://www.meridianstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1698

A NEW TOOL IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

Gov. Haley Barbour on Thursday signed a bill designed to help curb the 
devastation caused by the illegal manufacture and use of methamphetamines. 
The new law places restrictions on the sale of cold tablets that contain 
pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, identified by an agent of the Mississippi 
Bureau of Narcotics as the only active ingredient used by 90 percent of the 
clandestine labs in Mississippi that produce crystal meth.

The new law requires retailers to store cold medicines containing either of 
these ingredients in locked display cases, behind the counter, within 30 
feet of a store cashier or under video surveillance. It also limits the 
amount of cold tablets sold to a customer to no more than two packages per 
transaction or six grams of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine.

Law enforcement officials, eager to use whatever tools placed at their 
disposal to fight the scourge, embraced the effort. Retailers caught making 
"backdoor sales" of the tablets by the caseload could face a felony charge, 
although an inadvertent violation would be a misdemeanor.

Meth is a highly addictive and potent powder "cooked up" from such common 
ingredients as ammonia, lithium from car batteries and pseudoephedrine. 
After snorting, eating or injecting the drug, users experience rushes of 
energy and euphoria. Meth labs create the potential for explosions and 
contamination because of the combustible ingredients used to manufacture it.

We agree that this new law can be a good tool in the fight against one of 
society's most prolific problems.
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MAP posted-by: Beth