LAWMAKERS DISAGREE OVER METH BOUNTIES; SOME SAY LAW WOULD ONLY REWARD CRIMINALS

Area lawmakers disagree over how best to combat methamphetamine production and trafficking in Missouri.

Rep. Patrick Naeger, R-Perryville, is one of the sponsors of a bill that would authorize the state to pay $10,000 bounties for tips leading to the destruction of meth labs and the arrest and conviction of lab operators.

Naeger has called it the "quicker picker-up" that would help authorities pick up criminals and put a stop to meth production.

But Democratic Reps. Joe Heckemeyer of Sikeston, Larry Thomason of Kennett and Marilyn Williams of Dudley dismiss the bill as a "Band-Aid" approach that would reward criminals.

The three lawmakers are sponsoring legislation that seeks to regulate the purchase of over-the-counter medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, an essential ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Naeger said their approach is wrong because it would punish law-abiding citizens and saddle pharmacists with more regulatory paperwork. Naeger is part owner of a Perryville pharmacy.

"No other state in this country has restricted the sale of these products," Naeger said.

He said the bounty bill has support from some Democrats as well as Republicans.

The bill would provide $4 million a year to pay bounties for the next three years.

Thomason said, "The Republican approach will only reward illegal drug users, manufacturers and distributors, not protect the public or lessen the methamphetamine problem in Missouri.

"In fact, in all likelihood, paying rewards will only worsen the problem," he said.

Heckemeyer said the state would end up paying people to put their fellow drug traffickers out of business.

"These individuals will then take the $10,000 and use it to finance and expand their own illegal operations by buying more over-the-counter products to make methamphetamine and hire others to assist them in making and distributing the illegal drug," he said.

Heckemeyer said the bounty bill also could lead to vigilante bounty hunters and encourage drug users and manufacturers to "set up" innocent people.

But Naeger said that while some criminals might be paid for their tips, the reward money also would go to honest citizens who provided information.

The bounties also would generate suspicion among drug dealers who would have to worry about who would turn them in, he said.

Naeger said crime-solving tips often come from criminals. "Cops work with criminals all the time to catch other criminals," he said.

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Rick Hetzel said he would welcome any tool that helps in the war on drugs.

"I think the idea has merit and falls in the same boat as Crime Stoppers," he said. Crime Stoppers is a local program that pays for tips that lead to solving crimes in the Cape Girardeau area.

Naeger said he and others who support the bounty bill aren't married to the $10,000 figure. "That is a starting point," he said. "We can talk about the money later."

Heckemeyer, Thomason and Williams initially had proposed a bill that would have allowed only pharmacies to dispense cold, cough, allergy and sinus medicines containing pseudoephedrine. The non-prescription medicines would have been put behind the counter and the regulations would have driven up the cost of the products, Naeger said.

Drug dealers would then start buying other medicines that could be used to manufacture meth, he said. "We would get to the point where there was nothing over the counter."

But the three Democratic lawmakers have scrapped their original bill in favor of a substitute measure that would keep the medicines out on the shelves in all stores, not just pharmacies. Under the measure, anyone who sells more than 25 grams of pseudoephedrine must require the customer to show photographic identification and sign a form. The form would include the name of the purchaser, the date, time, amount and substance purchased.

Stores would have to keep each record for at least two years from the date of the transaction. Violators could be convicted of a class C misdemeanor.

Heckemeyer said a person would have to purchase about a three weeks supply of over-the-counter cold medicine to equal 25 grams of pseudoephedrine.

The average customer won't be affected by such restrictions, he said.

Making it harder to secure large supplies of the medications with a single purchase could help combat the drug problem, Heckemeyer said.

The substitute bill was heard this week by a House committee. It is one of a number of bills that lawmakers have proposed to fight the methamphetamine problem.

Heckemeyer said the substitute bill could end up being a part of a larger anti-meth measure. "It was never intended to stand by itself," he said.