METH INGREDIENT NEEDS NATIONAL LIMITS

The Issue

Congress is considering legislation to restrict the sale of cold medicines
with an ingredient used to produce methamphetamine.

RESTRICTION on the sale of cold medicines that can be used to produce
methamphetamine is receiving bipartisan support in Congress, but its
attachment to the controversial USA Patriot Act may at least delay its
enactment. The bill would toughen restrictions in Hawaii but would be no
cure-all to the crystal meth epidemic.

This year's Legislature enacted requirements that limit consumers to buying
no more than three packages or nine grams -- about 300 pills -- in a single
transaction. The congressional proposal would limit purchases to one
package a day or three packages a month.

The federal legislation would require that Sudafed, Claritin D and other
medicines containing pseudoephedrine be kept under lock and key in stores.
Hawaii's weaker law allows stores to keep the medicines in plain view of a
store clerk, behind the counter or in view of a security camera.

Hawaii, where 15 crystal meth labs were shut down last year and 10 more
during the first four months of this year, is among 34 states that have
restrictions in sales of medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Oregon's law
is the strictest, requiring a doctor's prescription in order to buy such
medicines. The federal bill is patterned after an Oklahoma law that has
been effective in reducing the number of meth labs.

Nationwide limits would hinder meth manufacturers from buying the medicines
in bulk in a state with no restrictions and crossing state lines to their
labs. Illegal operations could bring them to Hawaii from the mainland.

Even if a federal law were to shut down all the meth labs in the country,
"ice" would continue to plague Hawaii and the the rest of the country.
Eighty percent of the meth illegally marketed in the United States is
smuggled from international superlabs -- 65 percent from Mexico, according
to the Drug Enforcement Administration.