Pot times July 18, 2005
Coordinating The Fight Against Meth
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1136/a02.htmlNewshawk: Kirk
Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 COORDINATING THE FIGHT AGAINST METH
Source: Journal Standard, The (Freeport, IL)
Copyright: 2005 The Journal Standard
Contact: http://www.journalstandard.com/forms/letters/
Website: http://www.journalstandard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3182
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm
(Methamphetamine)
The Issue: Proposed Combat Meth Act Bill Goes To The Senate
Our view: This legislation is needed to end the destination state game.
Methamphetamine is fast becoming the most serious drug problem our society has
ever known - just ask people in the neighboring state of Iowa.
In Iowa last year, 1,472 meth labs were broken up, 62 percent of the new inmates
taken into the state prison system were for meth-related offenses, and that
state is now caring for more than 1,000 children whose meth-addicted parents
could no longer care for them.
The fact that this drug is manufactured ( oftentimes with items you pick up at
the local drugstore ) has left law enforcement in a vulnerable position.
The Illinois Controlled Substances Act has always been geared to prosecute those
who abuse or deliver drugs, not manufacture them.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan took a big step in the right direction
earlier this year by rewriting the state's criminal codes to give law
enforcement more power to protect rural communities against meth cooks.
Senate Bill 562 also brought all meth-related laws together under one section of
the Illinois Criminal Code, making it easier for law enforcement and the
judicial system to deal with the scourge of meth labs.
Most of the heavy lifting in fighting meth production has been done by the
states. In fact, the new federal budget proposes a 50 percent reduction in
meth-related law enforcement and the environmental clean-up it necessitates.
Cleaning up a single meth lab is dangerous and can cost up to $150,000.
Every pound of the drug leaves behind 5 to 6 pounds of toxic waste.
Forcing the states to handle the meth problem has created a mish-mash of law
revisions that have taken far too long to come to fruition. It has set
into motion a frantic race to avoid becoming a destination state for meth
producers.
In April 2004, Oklahoma became the first state to classify cold medications
containing pseudoephedrine ( a key ingredient in cooking meth ) Schedule V drugs
thus putting them behind the counter. Only pharmacies can sell the cold
pills, and buyers must sign a logbook and show identification. Individuals
can only buy 9 grams of the pills during the course of a month. While this
action brought out some consumer and Big Pharma lobbyists, it's been hard to
argue with the results. Already overtaxed pharmacists now have more work
and consumers are inconvenienced, but Oklahoma has seen a 80 percent drop in
meth lab seizures.
This week the Senate will grapple with national legislation that is modeled
after the Oklahoma bill. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo. and Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. have driven the bipartisan SB-103 otherwise
known as the Combat Meth Act.
This bill would put pseudoephedrine behind the counter and give law enforcement
more resources to go after meth cooks, protect children of meth and rehabilitate
their parents. We support this legislation because it's not enough to
chase meth producers from state to state, we want them out of our country.
Let's hope that legislators in our nation's capital have finally realized that
it's time to turn our attention from the heroin trade in Afghanistan and
steroids in baseball to the toxic drug ripping away at the very heart of our
society.
