USA: The meth breakthrough

The Senate's passage of a bill to control base chemicals offers hope in the war on this drug.

Significant advances in the war against drug abuse are so rare that any win is worth celebrating. And the Senate's approval this week of sweeping new controls on the ingredients to make methamphetamine was an important step forward.

The Senate approved what Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of the House subcommittee overseeing drug policy, called "the most important meth bill that's ever been passed by the United States Congress."

Strictly speaking it isn't a bill, since it was part of the revised Patriot Act that President Bush intends to sign, but the point is well taken anyway.

The meth legislation means that consumers of products made from ephedrine and pseudoephedrine will face restrictions on over-the-counter sales throughout the nation. Those ingredients are the base for most of the widely sold cold remedies on the market. Many states, including Oregon, have already enacted such restrictions because meth dealers buy or steal the medicines to supply their meth-cooking operations.

As important as these restrictions will be in disrupting the supply and purity of meth sold on the streets, it's noteworthy that the law also allows authorities to go after the big fish of the methamphetamine industry, the Mexican drug cartels that account for two-thirds of the American supply of the drug.

Most of the supply of meth in this country is possible only because those chemical manufacturers produce more than the legitimate market needs. The law allows American drug agents to demand the records of the companies that make the base chemicals.

Of course, executive branch agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration and the State Department can make or break this aspect of the legislation. When it takes effect, the law could deny access to the legal U.S. market for uncooperative foreign companies, but DEA and State have to push the question instead of dragging their feet.

We must note here, because we are proud of his work, that none of this would likely have happened without the indefatigable efforts of Steve Suo, a reporter for The Oregonian.

In 2004 and 2005, Suo crunched supply-and-demand statistics to make the key discovery regarding good anti-meth policy. He showed that when authorities crack down on the supply side of the meth equation, the demand side declines. This is vital information to communities across the nation that must deal with the drug's impact on users -- as well as the astonishing array of crime, toxic waste, negligence and injury that meth use spawns. Suo also documented the importance of foreign suppliers to the U.S. drug market and the link between legal and illegal uses of the base chemicals.

Ultimately Suo's work and Congress' actions are likely to hasten the day when legal drug manufacturers remove ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from their cold remedies. That will be the occasion for Americans to really celebrate their victory over a dangerous enemy.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sat, 4 March, 2006
Source: The Oregonnian (United States)
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/