USA: Lawmakers put meth bill on the fast track

Drug trade - U.S. House members push broad legislation aimed at domestic and international trade

A powerful coalition of House members on Thursday introduced broad legislation that would target the domestic trade in methamphetamine and the international trade in pseudoephedrine, the drug's key ingredient.

Although many provisions have been circulating since the spring, the "Methamphetamine Epidemic Elimination Act," combines these measures into a single package supported by key Democrats and top Republican leaders.

The bill will move rapidly to its first hearing Tuesday. High-profile co-sponsors include: Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on narcotics; House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Judiciary Chairman Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis.; and the four co-chairs of the House Methamphetamine Caucus from both parties.

"They're going to put the bill on the floor," said Souder. "It's going to be fast-track."

Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., one of the founders of the Meth Caucus, said members feel an urgency to push the bill through.

"There's a strong sense that we ought to do something, and we ought to do it in this session of Congress," said Baird.

The legislation would greatly expand the role of foreign policy in the fight against meth:

It would allow U.S. officials to track sales of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from the limited number of factories that produce the chemicals worldwide.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials would set import quotas for the United States based on legitimate demand, as the DEA does now for narcotic drugs.

State Department officials would be required to estimate the legitimate demand for cold medicine in top importing countries. The agency could withdraw aid from countries that import excessive quantities. The full House already has approved the foreign aid provision in a separate bill, but the Senate has not yet acted on it.

Domestically, trafficking in meth would carry heavier penalties, and meth cooks could be made to pay for lab cleanups.

Major provision left out

Omitted from the legislation, however, was a major provision sought by the Senate that would limit access to cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine in the United States. The measure, which cleared the Senate last week, was sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jim Talent, R-Mo.

The House bill would allow all retailers to continue selling pseudoephedrine products, but would reduce the amount that could be sold to one customer.

"I am very concerned that this proposal does not do enough to restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine," Talent said in a statement Thursday.

Souder said he is not convinced such controls are necessary or effective, and he is concerned that they may put small retailers out of business.

"I just don't see it as a compelling idea that has staying power," he said.

The Talent-Feinstein measure is awaiting negotiations with the House; likewise, the Senate would have to approve the legislation introduced Thursday, if the House approves it.

In the end, both bills may pass. Some sponsors of the House bill on international pseudoephedrine control strongly support the Senate bill on domestic sales restrictions -- notably Blunt, the majority whip. His spokeswoman, Burson Taylor, said Blunt sees the two bills as "companion pieces that complement each other quite a bit."

Focus on ingredients

Disrupting the flow of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine to traffickers can have a dramatic impact on the meth trade, The Oregonian reported last October in its five-part series, "Unnecessary Epidemic."

Meth traffickers are vulnerable because they rely on tons of chemicals made by a limited number of sophisticated factories, unlike cocaine and heroin traffickers whose raw materials are crops grown illicitly across regions of Asia and Latin America.

When federal authorities have choked off the supply of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in the past, production of meth slowed and users quit. But the trade has rebounded each time because traffickers turned to unmonitored sources of pseudoephedrine, first in Canada and then in Mexico.

In June, an investigation by The Oregonian found that Mexico was importing about twice as much pseudoephedrine as the country needs for cold medicine. Based on The Oregonian report, Feinstein asked Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, to personally investigate Mexico's pseudoephedrine imports.

Reviewing sales records of the nine major overseas factories where ephedrine and pseudoephedrine originate -- in India, China, Germany and the Czech Republic -- was an idea initially proposed in March by Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore.

Sudden surges in demand in any country could signal new attempts at diversion by Mexican drug traffickers, who supply about 65 percent of the meth sold in the United States.

"If we're oversupplying the amount of pseudoephedrine that you need for legitimate purposes, you're never going to get any control over the supply of this drug," Hooley said Thursday.

The international approach has drawn little opposition from U.S. drug manufacturers and retailers, unlike the Talent-Feinstein legislation, which would take Oklahoma's pseudoephedrine sales restrictions and expand them nationwide.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores supports greater control over the importation of bulk pseudoephedrine and increased attention to the production of meth in Mexico, said Mary Ann Wagner, vice president of pharmacy regulatory affairs for the drugstore association.

"If we're serious about attacking the meth problem," Wagner said, "we need to look at all different sources of meth."

Steve Suo: 503-221-8288; stevesuo@news.oregonian.com

You can read The Oregonian's investigative series, "Unnecessary Epidemic," at www.oregonlive.com/special/oregonian/meth

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/amphetablog.html
Pubdate: Fri, 23rd September 2005
Source: The Oregonian (USA)
Author: Steve Suo
Copyright: 2005 The Oregonian
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/