OFFICIALS SAY LAW IS WORKING

Methamphetamine labs in Oklahoma have dropped off 70 percent since state lawmakers approved restrictions on the sale of cold medicines that contain the illegal drug's key ingredient, authorities say.

Local authorities said they've seen the reduction in numbers of labs here, but they believe the figures may be on the way back up.

Tahlequah Police Chief Norman Fisher said the police department doesn't get a lot of labs, but he likes any steps taken to make it harder to get the necessary materials.  He said the department has been involved in the seizure of labs in buildings, as well as mobile labs.

"We don't see as many labs in town," he said.  "I was glad to see the change in the law."

Cherokee County Sheriff Delena Goss said her office has personnel working with the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service on illegal drug activity, including manufacturing methamphetamine.  She said deputies have noticed a dropoff in labs.

"We've experienced a drop in the number of labs we've seized," she said.

Both Fisher and Goss said they know Cherokee County residents are going out of state to purchase products containing pseudoephedrine.

"We have information that some people are going to Arkansas [to get pseudoephedrine]," Goss said.  "We think we'll start to see an increase back up to our old number of labs."

"People in this part of the state are not that far from Arkansas, Texas or Kansas," Fisher added.  "It would be nice if those states would follow our [Oklahoma] lead and limit sales of pseudoephedrine."

Law enforcement authorities in Texas have reported an increase in the number of people crossing the state line from Oklahoma to buy the products since the law went into effect.

The dramatic decline, recorded over the past three months, followed passage of legislation this spring that banned store sales of popular medications, like Sudafed and Claritin-D, that contain pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in methamphetamine.

The medications may still be sold in pharmacies, where they must be kept behind the counter and sold only to people who present photo identification and sign for the medicine.

A total of 90 methamphetamine labs were reported to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in March by law enforcement agencies statewide, authorities said.  That figure declined to 64 in April and fell further to 29 in May, officials told the AP.

Gov.  Brad Henry signed the legislation into law on April 7, and it did not become fully effective for another 60 days.

"I don't believe I have ever seen a piece of legislation have this immediate impact," said Scott Rowland, attorney for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.  "I quite frankly am surprised that it is this high."

OBN officials said a further decline in meth labs is possible in the coming months as pseudoephedrine inventories are consumed by producers.

The legislation was drafted to restrict access to the highly addictive drug's main ingredient and provide new tools to force addicts into treatment programs, said Rep.  John Nance, R-Bethany, the legislation's author.

The measure, the only one of its kind in the nation, received bipartisan support from lawmakers desperate for a way to slow what some have described as a meth epidemic in the state, which reported 1,236 labs in 2003.

Instead of chasing meth labs, narcotics agents can devote resources to other investigations, including long-term drug trafficking cases.

Fewer meth labs will mean less money spent on cleaning up hazardous materials commonly used in the production process.  Each lab costs up to $2,500 to clean up, authorities said.

"The bottom line is this law is working," Rowland said.  "The impact is great, the inconvenience is minimal."