Daniels signs bill designed to curb methamphetamine

south bend tribune ^ | 5 10 09 | MIKE SMITH

[freepatriot32]

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Gov. Mitch Daniels visited Vigo County, where the production of methamphetamine has been prolific, to sign legislation Tuesday that will restrict the sale of cold medicines containing ingredients used to make the drug.

The law is similar to a Vigo County ordinance that has been in effect since January. State police reported that authorities found 166 meth labs in the county last year, the most among Indiana's 92 counties. The county also topped the state list in 2002 and 2003.

The new law, enacted unanimously by the General Assembly last month, places restrictions on the sale and purchase of drugs containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, which are commonly found in over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines.

"We are waging a war to stop the damage this drug is causing throughout the state, in our schools and neighborhoods, and against families and the environment," Daniels said.

Stores without pharmacies will be required to keep the drugs in a locked case or behind a counter. Those with pharmacies can have the drugs within sight of a pharmacy employee, if there is 24-hour video surveillance.

[freepatriot32]

yeah this is going to stop meth all right its worked s o well in every other state that tryed it and lets not forget the famous case of selling legal over the counteer medicine to american citisens Clerk Convicted Of Selling Meth Ingredient (10 Bottles of Cold Medicine Could Bring 10 Years)

[freepatriot32]

ping

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.

[clee1]

This isn't going to do anything to halt the problem. The meth cookers will just buy in bulk from overseas.

[beltfed308]

Maybe they should ban dirt because you can grow pot with it. Nothing but feel good bs.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Why don't the pols get serious with the dealers, instead of hassling law-abiding citizens?

There's a pol in Boston, Steve Lynch, who wants to ban oxycontin, because he's afraid that it's too easy to get addicted to it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1398483/posts

[TheDon]

We must get these laws repealed. They are a menace to our citizens.

[TKDietz]

This kind of legislation won't really hurt the big huge labs who buy supplies in bulk from shady suppliers who are acting illegally. But I bet all or at least almost all the people busted in the 166 labs found in that one county were getting their supply of pseudoephedrine from local stores, either buying it or stealing it. What you have out there are a bunch of tweakers with recipes and buddies from jail who know something about cooking dope and they get together and cook the stuff. These aren't the type of people the guys who supply raw materials to the huge labs are going to want to deal with. They'd rather keep their big organized crime connections who pay well and don't get them busted, unlike tweakers off the street.

Oklahoma saw around an 80% reduction in the number of meth labs since they passed their laws requiring pseudoephedrine to be kept behind counters in pharmacies. This severely limited the number of possible sources for pseudoephedrine making it far more difficult for people to keep a lab going by running all over town buying or stealing their pseudoephedrine. They probably would have seen a greater reduction in the number of labs if Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, and other bordering states had similar laws restricting pseudoephedrine sales. Now most of the labs they are finding are near state lines. They are down to finding less than twenty labs per month from over a hundred labs per month. They estimated they were spending well over $300,000 per meth lab after factoring in the costs of building finishing the cases and appeals and imprisoning these people, cleaning up messes made, child services costs they end up having to cover, and so on. If they are right on their numbers they might be saving tens of millions per month now.

[Freebird Forever]

The meth cookers will just buy in bulk from overseas.

Or hijack trucks as they leave the manufacturer.

[ChildOfThe60s]

In reality, these labs are not producing meth in these quantities using OTC cold remedies. If OTC stuff ceased to exist it would have a minimal effect on the production of meth.

Polk County Florida (where I live) is the meth capitol of the state & they sure aren't doing it with Sudafed.

Do you have to pass a stupid test to get into public office?

[clee1]

I guess I can concede your point. Heck, ONE pack of Sudofed lasts me about three years!

However, a group of 10 people could buy enough legally in a large metro area to cook their dope.

All this will do is drive up the cost of doing business... prohibition always fails.

[clee1]

Do you have to pass a stupid test to get into public office?

No... but it IS considered a resume' enhancer.

[Froufrou]

I wonder how much this little piece of legislation cost the state? This is nothing but lip service. It puts the face of a deterrent out there, but it won't change anything. Grease on a squeaky wheel, that's all.

[TKDietz]

I am all for laws that require pseudoephedrine be sold only from pharmacies and that it be kept under lock and key in these stores if not behind the counters. It's only a minor inconvenience for consumers but it will save tons of money states are now blowing handling all the little kitchen meth lab cases and I think in the long run it will cut down on the number of new meth addicts because an awful lot of people out there are getting dirt cheap or free meth by cooking it or helping people cook it.

Look at Oklahoma's results. It's legislation that actually works and more than that it is actually saving Oklahoma a ton of money. Legislation that actually achieves its goals and saves money to boot? You can't ask for more than that. It's sure as heck a lot better than trying to make a huge reduction in the number of labs by investigating, arresting, incarcerating, taking care of these people's children while they are locked up and cleaning up their messes behind them. That doesn't work, but it sure costs your state a fortune.

[Waterleak]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but tweakers risk their lives daily in their activities to procure the stuff, ingest it, and make it. With that said prohibition of the most lethal variety will stop this. In other words cop finds meth users - cop immediately kills meth users. Or Cop finds lab and cookers, cop kills cookers and burns lab to the ground right away. That happens enough, meth use will stop. Lets stop trying to untie the Gordian knot and apply some Alexander logic here.

[TKDietz]

"However, a group of 10 people could buy enough legally in a large metro area to cook their dope."

Yea I know, but most dope isn't cooked in large metro areas because of the smell that leads police right to it. Most of the little meth labs operating are out in the country or at least in less populated areas. I live in a pretty rural area and there are tons of people out here cooking dope. I'm a public defender and our office gets several new labs a month and a whole bunch more cases where people may not be caught with a lab but they are caught with items intended to be used in the process of cooking dope. These guys are going around to every store in town, gas stations, truck stops, discount stores, freight salvage stores, all sorts of places buying up their pseudoephedrine limit, or stealing it. A lot of it is being sold in larger quantities out of the back doors of some of these stores. Clerks get involved and help people get a lot more than the limit either by helping steal it or by doing several transactions in a day for one person.

The guys who are going around all over town buying the stuff up have to be careful because there are also a lot of clerks who will call the police if they get suspicious. So what they have to do is hit one store one day and come back a few days later at a different time so they aren't recognized. If all of the sudden they had to buy their supply from one of the few pharmacies around here they'd be out of luck because it wouldn't be long at all before they were recognized and turned in. Pharmacies would be far less likely to sell pseudo out the back door than little fly by night stores, and these guys couldn't steal it if it was locked up or behind the counter.

It's working in Oklahoma.

"All this will do is drive up the cost of doing business... prohibition always fails."

First off, we aren't talking about prohibition. No one is advocating that pseudoephedrine be prohibited, only better controlled. People who need it could still get it. For most it won't be a problem at all. Most hardly ever buy the stuff anyway, if they buy it at all. Gel caps and liquid preparations are still available everywhere in Oklahoma, as are other products that work like pseudoephedrine. You only have to go to a pharmacy there if you want pseudophedrine tablets. If the price goes up a little bit, oh well. To me it's worth it if it causes a huge drop in the number of meth labs. Anything close to the 80% reduction they've seen in Oklahoma would be great, even half that would be amazing.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Does anyone here have access to any (reliable) hard numbers indicating that a substantial percentage of the meth produced is a result of using OTC meds for raw materials?

I ask this because, to me, it seems highly unlikely that OTCs could be that significant in the big picture.

I have no objection to being proved wrong, BUT I will not concede simply on the basis of a dimwit politician's claims.

[clee1]

Sorry, but I cannot conceive of a situation where I want the cops to become judge, jury, and executioner - on the spot - like Judge "I AM the Law" Dredd.

I have an easier way. Take all the siezed dope and give it to these fools free of charge. After a massive round of OD's, the bulk of the problem will be solved.

[TKDietz]

"In other words cop finds meth users - cop immediately kills meth users. Or Cop finds lab and cookers, cop kills cookers and burns lab to the ground right away. That happens enough, meth use will stop. Lets stop trying to untie the Gordian knot and apply some Alexander logic here."

Sure, who needs trials anyway? Let's just give let these high school graduates with guns go around and whack whoever they want to whack. They have badges so surely they'd never accidentally or on purpose kill an innocent person.

Nothing like that would ever fly in this country. Better think of a plan "B."

[BulletBobCo]

Now everybody will be going around with runny noses and everybody will think they're on coke.