LAWMAKERS TRY TO LIMIT ACCESS TO INGREDIENTS

Across the country and in the halls of Congress, lawmakers are moving
to combat the rise in the use of methamphetamine by limiting access
to a legal ingredient used to make the illegal synthetic stimulant.
Indiana's Meth Protection Act is being held up as a model for
controlling access to pseudoephedrine, a cold medicine that can be
used to make methamphetamine. Under a law that took effect in July,
Indiana retailers must keep such cold medicines in a locked case or
behind a counter, and buyers must show identification, sign a logbook
and limit their purchases to 3 grams a week. Last week, Illinois Gov.
Rod Blagojevich signed a similar law that goes into effect Jan. 15.

An Illinois law enacted earlier this year limited the sale of
medicines where pseudoephedrine was the sole active ingredient to
two boxes at a time. But it didn't have the identification or
registration requirements. Meanwhile, Wisconsin lawmakers passed a
bill this summer that made pseudoephedrine a Class V drug available
only in pharmacies. Purchasers also have to sign a registry and show
identification to buy up to 9 grams of pills per month. (Indiana's
law limits buyers to 3 grams a week.) Kentucky law enforcement
officials, meanwhile, are claiming some success from their law that
restricts the sale of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine and
requires registration of buyers.

Kentucky State Police say the number of meth labs seized in the state
has dropped from 41 in September 2004 to 12 in September 2005. In
early November, Kentucky law enforcement officials announced they had
opened 160 criminal investigations as a result of the portion of the
law that requires buyers to provide identification and register their
purchases by signing a logbook. As of August, 38 states had laws in
some form restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine, according to the
National Conference of State Legislators.

Meanwhile, a bill to regulate the sale of pseudoephedrine nationally
is stalled in Congress. The federal legislation mirrors in part the
Indiana law, requiring pseudoephedrine-containing products to be sold
from behind the counter, and requires identification and registration
of buyers. But it also imposes a daily purchase limit and a limit of
9 grams (about 300 pills) in a 30-day period.