Act cuts supply for meth cooks

WASHINGTON – Allergy sufferers could be among the first affected by the USA Patriot Act poised for final congressional passage this week.

Besides terrorism, the bill takes aim at the production of methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that cannot be manufactured without a key ingredient of everyday cold and allergy medicines. The bill would impose new limits next month for how much relief a person can buy over the counter.

And beginning Sept. 30, it’ll take a flash of ID to buy that medication.

The legislation sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jim Talent, R-Mo., would blanket the nation with one policy that would put medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter and out of the reach of meth cooks.

Passing a state or local law cracking down on methamphetamine production sets off a cycle that goes something like this: The black market price of cold tablets needed to make the drug skyrockets, driving the meth makers to the jurisdiction next door. There, they buy it in bulk – legally, cheaply, anonymously. That is, until that state or city gets tough on meth with new laws of its own.

Rather than wait for localities to stitch together a patchwork of anti-meth policies, the provision of the Patriot Act would leave meth producers nowhere to run but out of the country. It takes aim at the meth trade’s weakest point – the supply of pseudoephedrine.

Beginning 30 days after President Bush signs the law, which he’s expected to do this week, purchase limits go into effect. One person would be limited to buying 300, 30-milligram pills in a month or 120 such pills in a day. The measure would make an exception for “single-use” sales – individually packaged pseudoephedrine products.

Oklahoma provides evidence that driving out meth labs doesn’t mean getting rid of meth. Oklahoma’s meth lab seizures have fallen 90 percent since April 2004, when it became the first state to ban over-the-counter sales of everyday cold and allergy medications.

At the same time, seizures of smokable Mexican meth known as “crystal ice” rose nearly fivefold, from 384 cases in the 15 months before the law to 1,875 since.