METH LEGISLATION WINS KEY BACKING

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Bill That Puts Some Cold Medicines
Behind The Counter

WASHINGTON - Congress entered the fight against illegal methamphetamine on
Thursday, when a key committee voted to back legislation restricting the
sale of pseudoephedrine, the drug's primary ingredient.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved legislation sponsored
by Sens. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would
require common cold products containing pseudoephedrine to be sold behind
pharmacy counters.

Under the bill, consumers could purchase only 7.5 grams - about two
packages - of cold products containing pseudoephedrine a month and would
have to show a photo ID and sign a log with each purchase.

"We can finally get ahead of the meth cooks and keep this drug out of our
neighborhoods and schools," Talent said.

The Senate action comes after a July 5 survey of law enforcement agencies
in 45 states identified meth as a bigger problem than cocaine, marijuana or
heroin. Meth lab seizures have doubled across the country in the last five
years, from 7,438 in 1999 to 15,994 last year, according to the Office of
National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Talent and Feinstein said their bill would provide for a tough national
meth standard while giving states the option of adopting even stricter rules.

"We are one step closer to enacting a national meth bill that puts
thousands of meth labs out of business," Feinstein said. The senators
expect a floor vote on the bill as early as September.

A similar bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the House
majority whip, is pending in the House. Last year, Missouri had 2,707
illegal meth lab seizures, ranking No. 1 in the nation.

Blunt said the meth epidemic "is one of the single most disturbing trends"
facing the nation.

"This is one of those issues that requires a national solution," he said.

Other provisions in the Senate bill would:

# Limit the amount of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine that could
be sold at retail stores at airports. Those stories could sell no more than
360 milligrams in single packages in a 24-hour period.

# Provide $25 million to help local law enforcement prosecute meth offenders.

# Provide $13 million for meth treatment and research.

# Provide $5 million to help children who were neglected by meth addicts or
were exposed to toxic chemicals at illegal meth labs.

The bill was stalled in committee for weeks because senators from Oklahoma
and Iowa complained that it might undermine their own anti-meth efforts. It
is patterned after an Oklahoma law that is credited with reducing seizures
of illegal meth labs in some counties by as much as 80 percent.

The bill won unanimous approval after an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn,
R-Okla., was included to allow states to enact tougher standards than those
in the Senate bill.