AG candidate Koster outlines meth legislation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Democratic attorney general candidate Chris Koster outlined a plan Thursday to discourage methamphetamine use by scaring people with disturbing images and tougher criminal sentences.

Koster wants to mandate a statewide ad campaign featuring pictures of meth addicts with rotted-out mouths and bloody scratches or scars on their skin. A similar ad campaign in Montana has been credited with helping reduce meth use in that state.

"It is high impact. It is uncomfortable to look at, but when placed in schools and on public service announcements, it changes the perception that young people have regarding what methamphetamine does to their bodies and to our communities," said Koster, a state senator from Harrisonville.

His legislation would require a "large-scale statewide advertising campaign" -- through television, print and billboards -- aimed at discouraging first-time meth use, particularly among young people. Koster had no cost estimate for the campaign, which would have to be funded through separate budget legislation.

Missouri has long been the national leader in methamphetamine lab busts. Through November, Missouri had 1,205 meth lab busts in 2007, nearly one-fourth of all such cases nationally and more than twice as many as any other single state.

Although still high, Missouri's meth cases dropped after a law took effect in mid-2005 moving a key ingredient -- pseudoephedrine-based cold medicines -- behind the pharmacy counter and requiring adults to sign a log to purchase such medicines.

But the Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that meth lab cases started to rise again in the last half of 2007, as drug makers became more adept at driving from pharmacy to pharmacy in numerous towns to purchase the maximum amount of pseudoephedrine allowed at each place.

Koster's bill, like proposals by some other Missouri lawmakers, would require those purchases to be tracked electronically so pharmacists and law officers could more quickly catch people who are loading up on pseudoephedrine. Rep. Margaret Donnelly, of St. Louis, another Democratic attorney general candidate, also has filed a bill on electronic drug monitoring.

Other aspects of Koster's bill would mandate inpatient drug treatment for people convicted of possessing methamphetamine. The treatment would be followed by drug tests while they are on probation.

The bill also would expand the felony crime of child endangerment, which already applies when people make, sell or transport meth in the presence of a child. Under the bill, the charge also would cover people who merely possess methamphetamine in the presence of someone younger than 17.

It also would increase the legal fees county sheriffs can collect for such things as serving a summons as a means to increase the starting pay for deputies to $29,500. The average salary for Missouri sheriffs' deputies is $22,262, according to the Missouri Deputy Sheriffs' Association.

Earlier this year, a special Senate committee also recommended higher legal fees as a way to raise deputies salaries.