METH LAW

The Issue: Investigation shows multiple purchases are still possible.

Our View: Lack of electronic database creates a hole in the law.

Too often, in attempting to correct a problem, government goes only
part of the way. Indiana's new, well-intentioned law aimed at stopping
the purchase of large amounts of a cold remedy used in the production
of methamphetamine is a case in point.

The law requires that cold medications containing pseudoephedrine be
placed behind the pharmacy counter. Purchasers must provide
identification and sign a log. And the law limits the amount any one
person can purchase in a week.

The intent of the law, passed earlier this year, is to curb the
manufacture of methamphetamine, an illegal synthetic stimulant, in
crude home laboratories.

But a joint investigation by the Evansville Courier & Press and
WEHT-News25 has exposed a hole in the law, one that goes to the
government not going far enough. The hidden-camera project sent a
Courier & Press employee and a WEHT-News 25 photographer to local
pharmacies over a three-day period in October to buy medications
containing pseudoephedrine. The Courier & Press employee was able to
purchase19 boxes, in all containing 528 pills of 30 milligram Sudafed.
The news report said it was enough to make more than two batches of
meth.

In fact, the pharmacies followed the new law. They asked for her
identification and had her sign a log. In each case, when she returned
to the same store for more than the law allows, she was denied the
purchase.

But she was able to exceed the legal limit by going to multiple
stores. And therein lies the flaw.

The state has not yet established an electronic database that would
allow cross-checking from store to store. Granted, that will take
time, given that Indiana has more than 10,000 retail stores. And it
will take money. Courier & Press staff writer Jimmy Nesbitt wrote that
the state police are seeking grant money for a central database
system. With such a system, investigators and retailers could more
easily identify excessive purchasers. But state police say the
implementation of a database is years away.

Now, instead, the pharmacies use paper records. Police check the store
logs to see if anyone is violating the law. So far, the law, which
took effect July 1, has resulted in no arrests, the news report said.
But supporters believe that even without a database, the law is having
a positive impact. They cite a declining number of meth labs
dismantled in Vanderburgh County this year, and they think the law is
contributing to a reduction in meth production, the report said. They
see the new process as discouraging some potential abusers from going
through the steps.

We hope they're right. Meth is a wicked drug that has destroyed too
many lives. Yet we have to wonder. Bad people sometimes find new ways
to get around new laws. We wonder, as well, whether the influx of
crystal meth from Mexico might supplant the meth manufactured here.

In fact, by the time the state gets its database, the war on drugs may
have moved to a whole new front.