The U.S. Senate approved legislation Thursday designed to combat methamphetamine production across the nation.
The Combat Meth Act bill passed 89-10 as part of the USA Patriot Act Reauthorization Compromise, according to a new release from the office of U.S. Sen. Jim Talent.
The anti-meth legislation, sponsored by Talent, R-Mo., and Sen. Diane Feinstien, D-Calif., will limit access to cold medications containing primary ingredients use to make meth.
The legislation, which awaits President Bush's signature before becoming law, is similar to a law already passed in Oklahoma, after which Missouri also modeled its anti-meth law
Under the bill, medicines containing meth-producing drugs such as pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine, will be relocated behind a sales counter.
Tougher penalties for meth cooks will be imposed, but consumers will still be able to purchase the medicines they need without a prescription.
Purchasers must show identification and sign a logbook, and will only be allowed to buy 3.6 grams a day and 9 grams a month.
The bill also provides $99 million in funding annually for the next five years for programs to train state and local law agencies for investigating and prosecuting meth offenders.
In Southeast Missouri, Perryville Sheriff Gary Schaaf was happy to see the bill pass.
"I'm glad it's going through," he said. "Anything that will help stem the tide would be good."
While Schaaf did not know if there were many meth producers coming to Missouri from Illinois, which does not have a state-wide restriction on pseudoephedrine sales, he said such a thing would be hard to combat.
"There's so many cars going across every day," Schaaf said.
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