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A WAY TO CURB METH ABUSE

Our Position: Florida's New Limit On Buying Some Cold Medicines Is A Necessary Action

The new state law that limits access to some over-the-counter cold tablets may be inconvenient.  Yet it's necessary to curb the spread of an emerging illicit drug.

Highly addictive methamphetamine, which has been common for years in the western United States, is gaining a frightening foothold in Florida.  Police in this area are finding a growing number of crude labs that manufacture methamphetamine.

The new law makes it more difficult for the back-room chemists who make the drugs to obtain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient.  That chemical is easiest to find in some forms of Sudafed and other over-the-counter remedies.

Requiring retailers to keep those medications behind the counter and limit customers to three packages per sale will make it tougher on criminals.  But it won't hurt legitimate customers.

Until now, some drug dealers felt free to visit a store and fill a shopping cart with pseudoephedrine products.  Indeed, that's why a few large retailers already have restricted sales.  Other states also have limited sales.

Beyond the danger methamphetamine poses to the health of abusers, it also threatens public safety.  The manufacturing process is dangerous.  Earlier this year a methamphetamine lab exploded and caused a brush fire in Lake County.  Many chemicals used in the process are extremely toxic and endanger the health of anyone who lives nearby.

The small inconvenience posed by this new law is not unreasonable.  It will go a long way to protect the public.