Conference focuses on meth explosion

PACIFIC, Mo. -- As methamphetamine quickly becomes the No. 1 crime problem in rural America, Missouri could be the center of meth use and production in the Midwest, experts say.

That has politicians backing longer sentences and stronger measures to restrict access to ingredients used to make the drug. Meanwhile, police are calling for tougher laws and more money for local drug task forces, state crime labs and drug treatment programs.

But an expert at a conference Friday in Pacific, just outside St. Louis, said such measures aren't enough.

The powerful drug can be injected, smoked, snorted or taken as a pill and can be made in a few hours from volatile chemicals that easily can be bought legally or stolen.

U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., hosted the meth forum to discuss what lawmakers can do to fight the drug.

Ideas included everything from more federal grants to meth-plagued counties to labeling pseudoephedrine -- a key meth ingredient that can be found in over-the-counter cold medications -- a controlled narcotic that would be available only at pharmacies.

Restricting the sale of meth ingredients and protecting minors exposed to drug labs are important, but they aren't enough to reverse the meth tide in Missouri, said Michael S. Scott, a former administrator for the St. Louis Police Department, who has researched meth and outlined strategies to fight the drug for the U.S. Justice Department.

Tight control of meth ingredients "seems to be one of the most promising approaches" but that it must be done in concert with other, costlier tactics, Scott said.

"Nothing about these meth labs is simple. Everything about them is extraordinarily complicated," Scott said. "And it is all expensive."

Missouri law limits the sale of pills containing pseudoephedrine to three boxes per customer. State Sen. Anita Yeckel, a Sunset Hills Republican who helped write the current law, has introduced a bill that would reduce the state limit to two boxes and would force stores either to keep pills behind counters or install costly anti-theft systems.

House and Senate committees are due to discuss the measure at hearings this week.

Also, state Sen. Steve Stoll, D-Festus, plans to propose legislation that would make it a crime to make meth in a building where children live or within 2,000 feet of a school.

Meanwhile, some Missouri cities have adopted or are looking at measures that govern the sale of pseudoephedrine.

For example, last year, the St. Louis suburb of St. Peters passed an ordinance that forced retailers to keep cold pills containing pseudoephedrine off the shelves. Dozens of cities have followed St. Peters' lead.

And in Jefferson County, Arnold is considering a measure that would require customers who buy more than one box of pills containing pseudoephedrine to show identification and sign a log that can be inspected by police.

Hulshof said meth should get more attention at all levels of government.

"This is a federal, state and local issue that needs to be dealt with in a more comprehensive way," he said.