Pubdate: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 Source: Auburn Plainsman, The (Auburn U, AL Edu) Copyright: 2005 The Auburn Plainsman Contact: http://www.theplainsman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1880 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) DRUGS FROM DRUGS Alabama has a drug problem. According to police and legislators, our citizens are doing some old-fashioned Southern home cookin', but it ain't biscuits they're serving. Meth labs are popping up all across the state, investigators say, particularly in rural areas. Recipes are just a Google away, and most of the ingredients can be found at grocery stores and pharmacies. It's one of those ingredients that has state lawmakers concerned. Pseudoephedrine is a common chemical in over-the-counter cold medicines like Sudafed. It's also a key in making methamphetamine. The substance is already heavily regulated by most states, including Alabama. Any medicine containing 60 milligrams of pseudoephedrine per tablet as its sole active ingredient must be kept behind the counter. Stores can't sell such products as loose tablets in bottles, but must package them in those annoying blister packs (because meth cooks apparently don't have time in their busy days to pop them out). You can't buy more than three packages, or 9 grams, of pseudoephedrine. But that's not enough, according to state Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, state Rep. Frank McDaniel, D-Albertville, and dozens of co-sponsors. They want to require anyone purchasing pseudoephedrine-containing medicines to sign a register and present photo identification. A few obvious points come to mind. If you're making and selling crystal meth, you probably know where to obtain a fake ID. Virtually everyone in this town knows how to get one. This still doesn't stop anyone from sending several of their friends/customers to buy a few packages for them. If police are scanning these registers for people buying cold medicine in multiple locations, that's a ridiculous invasion of individual medical privacy. If they already have evidence that someone is making crystal meth, they should obtain a search warrant based on that. In short, this law does little to nothing to combat drug abuse and trafficking while burdening law-abiding consumers and merchants. McDaniel's version of the bill, which the House passed Tuesday, goes even further in its stupidity. It would allow retailers to sell only two packages of pseudoepedrine-containing medicines, or 6 grams, at a time, and would require buyers to be at least 18. It would place the same restrictions on tablets containing ephedrine (a close chemical cousin). And it would ban the sale of any such medicines that aren't formulated in a way to prevent their use in manufacturing meth by Oct. 1, 2009. So unless enough states jump on the dumbwagon to induce pharmaceutical companies to reformulate their drugs, Alabamians had better eradicate the common cold by 2009. But if they're serious about curbing meth use, there's an easy solution. (Sarcasm ahead, folks.) The War on Drugs has long been based on racial and ethnic prejudices, since "Reefer Madness" told tales of pot-addled blacks and Hispanics raping white women. Drug warriors could update those tales for the 21st century, and spread the reputation that meth is a "gay drug." Recent reports out of New York linked meth-fueled sex parties to a possible new, virulent strain of AIDS in gay communities. Add that to the already idiotic D.A.R.E. curriculum, and homophobic Southern teenage boys would volunteer to raid meth labs themselves. Ridiculous? Of course. We're not serious; this is a little exercise in reductio ad absurdum. But it's no less ridiculous than laws in question. Focus on treatment programs proven to work. Encourage economic development in poor rural counties housing meth producers. Provide young people with honest, accurate information about the real dangers of methamphetamine. But keep your damn hands off our Sudafed. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager