Missouri may follow Oklahoma's lead on meth

A law passed in April regulating the sale of products containing ephedrine -- a chief ingredient in the production of methamphetamine -- is working in Oklahoma. Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan says he and other law enforcement officials plan to ask the Missouri Legislature to draft a similar law.

Oklahoma's law makes anything containing ephedrine a "schedule 5" drug. This means licensed pharmacies would be required to take it off their shelves and move it behind the counter, although it would not require a prescription. Anyone who wants to buy cold medicine or any other product with that ingredient would have to show identification and sign for it. Other retail outlets would have to have a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration and follow the same rule.

The transaction would be recorded into a database and tracked so meth producers couldn't go from one pharmacy to another buying up products containing ephedrine.

"It's pro-active to be doing something with ephedrine," Jordan said. "If you take ephedrine out of the equation, you can't make meth, bottom line."

Like Missouri, Oklahoma is inundated with meth labs. According to the DEA, law enforcement officers in Missouri took down 2,858 meth labs in 2003. This was the greatest number of lab seizures in the nation. In Oklahoma, which has a smaller population than Missouri by about 2 million, 894 meth labs were eradicated. Like Missouri, most of the meth cookers are people who make it for their own consumption. It is not a money-driven product.

According to Oklahoma Republican state Rep. John Nance, the situation came to a head when a firefighter from Duncan, Okla., became addicted to methamphetamine and killed a state trooper who caught him the day after Christmas last year cooking meth in his car parked by the side of the road. In total since 1999, three Oklahoma troopers died in meth-related cases.

"There was such an outcry from the public," Nance said. "Enough is enough."

Mark Woodward, a public information officer with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, said the effort started last September and was signed into law April 6, a fast track for any kind of legislation.

In September 2003, Woodward said, Nance agreed to hold a two-day interim study session involving law enforcement, district attorneys, and health-care professionals. The results all boiled down to one main point: They had to make ephedrine inaccessible if Oklahoma is going to curb meth production.

The bill was drafted and made its way hastily through the legislative chambers. It passed out of the House floor to the Senate committee by a unanimous vote.

"It was the only bill the governor mentioned in his state of the state address," Nance said. "He mentioned that bill specifically and said he wanted it on his desk as soon as possible."

Along the way, there was some opposition from pharmaceutical companies.

"They said we needed to try other things first, they tried to water down the bill," Woodward said. "We were able to convince the legislature that all those arguments, things had already been tried, simply do not work."

While the drug companies did their best to lobby against taking ephedrine off the shelves, convenience stores and grocery chains did not oppose it. Some consumers grumbled about the inconvenience, Nance said, but eventually came around.

"People can still get their cold medicine," Nance said. "I think it's a reasonable thing. Most retailers are happy about it."

The legislature and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics also knew they had some convenience stores right where they wanted them. Those store did not dare oppose the bill because they knew that authorities suspected where some meth-makers were getting their ephedrine.

"They could not say it will hurt business because they would have to admit that they were selling to meth cooks," Woodward said.

Research showed that in Oklahoma the average convenience store sold $20 to $30 worth of over-the-counter cold medicine a month. However, some stores that were charted showed they were selling between $40,000 to $70,000 in ephedrine-related products during that same period.

"In the last 10 years we've seen a 12,000 percent increase nationwide in pseudoephedrine, but we have not seen a 12,000 percent increase in colds," Woodward said.

Since the law went into effect, Woodward said the results were immediate and impressive -- a drop of 30 percent to 50 percent in the number of meth labs seized.

Woodward said this success doesn't mean there are fewer people using meth. He knows, especially at Oklahoma's borders, they're simply crossing into neighboring states to make their drug. He said that people desperate to use meth will find other ways of getting it.

Jordan said those interested in proposing the bill in Missouri have considered that possibility.

"Where you have a demand, you will always have a supply," he said.

Making meth production more difficult will open up the market for imported meth. Jordan said law enforcement has already seen some imported meth coming in from Mexico. Importing would give law enforcement a better chance at making arrests that can be prosecuted at the federal level, and involving the federal DEA. Jordan and Woodward agree that meth would also become more expensive to buy if it could not be readily made.

Woodward said he hopes neighboring states follow Oklahoma's lead. Kansas and Texas are looking seriously at it. He said he was glad to hear Missouri might also.

Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, South Dakota and Iowa have asked Oklahoma's drug enforcement bureau to come talk about how to proceed with a similar law. Nance said he has even heard from legislators in Hawaii and New York, and that the U.S. "drug czar" John Walters is watching Oklahoma's success rate with an eye toward pursuing a similar law at the federal level.

Woodward said Oklahoma is proud to be the leader in what seems to be a sure way of curbing some of the meth production.

"At the same time it's frustrating that it got to this point," he said. "It took a lot of work, and it took a lot of tragedy to get to this point."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

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