STALLED METH BILLS STARTING TO MOVE IN JEFF CITY

After weeks of going nowhere, new legislation to deal with Missouri's fastest growing narcotics problem is moving.

A bill designed to limit access to ingredients used to manufacture methamphetamine in the Missouri Senate got initial approval last week, and could get final approval this week.

Senate Bill 89, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, had received no action for several weeks until last Tuesday. Initially, the bill strengthened penalties for theft of anhydrous ammonia. But amendments from other meth-related bills have broadened its scope.

The amended version includes these additions:

* Absolves farmers and others who lawfully store anhydrous ammonia from liability when thieves are injured.

* Requires landlords and property owners to tell potential tenants or buyers whether the residence has been used as a meth lab.

* Limits the amount of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine-containing cold tablets that may be sold or possessed at one time.

The bill would punish anyone who bought more than 96 pills containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine with up to five years in prison. A similar sentence would be given if someone sold the medicine knowing that it would be used to make methamphetamine.

A law limiting possession of medicine containing ephedrine is logical, said Kevin Glaser, head of the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force.

"Regardless of how sick you are, a normal person is not going to buy more than two boxes of cold tablets," he said. "You have these people who shop around and buy 1,500 to 2,000 tablets, and everybody and their brother knows what they're going to do with it."

Without a law making possession of a certain amount of the medicine a crime, narcotics officers have to find additional proof that the buyer plans to make meth, Glaser said.

Possession of more than five grams of ephedrine or more than 12 grams of pseudoephedrine would also be illegal. This would make it harder for meth makers to shop at several stores to accumulate a large amount of pills, Glaser said.

Lawful prescriptions, possession by medical professionals and sales between wholesalers and retailers would be exempt.

Theft of anhydrous ammonia becomes a more serious crime in the bill. The maximum penalty for any theft of anhydrous rises from five to seven years in prison.

Holding anhydrous ammonia in an unapproved container would become a new crime. Lawmakers consider this appropriate since the chemical is typically stored in bulk containers.

Little progress in House

Four meth-related bills in the Missouri House have made almost no progress since they were introduced. Rep. Peter Myers, R-Sikeston, has sponsored two of them.

Since his bills are nearly identical to Kinder's, Myers said he decided to wait for the Senate's version to come to the House rather than lobbying for his own. With the legislature's work slowing, Myers said a bill coming from the Senate now will have a better chance of passage.

The only meth bill that has been left behind is Senate Bill 90, a proposal of Kinder's that sought mandatory prison sentences for making methamphetamine. A first-time offender would get three years in prison, without the possibility of parole or a suspended sentence.

Legislators dismissed a mandatory sentencing policy, saying overcrowded prisons could not bear it, said Sen. Morris Westfall, R-Halfway, who is chairman of the Senate's criminal law committee.

As for the slow action on meth legislation, Westfall said Senate bills had been hung up in a budgetary committee that must determine if a piece of legislation is too expensive for the state.

STATUS OF METH BILLS

Methamphetamine bills have made recent progress in the Senate, but little in the House:

Bill No. Sponsor Status

HB277 Peter Myers, R-Sikeston Sent to committee Jan. 29

HB278 Peter Myers, R-Sikeston Sent to committee Jan. 29

HB565 Ralph Monaco, D-Raytown Public hearing March 5

HB1012 Robert Mayer, R-Dexter Public hearing April 4

SB37 Morris Westfall, R-Halfway Combined with SB89

SB89 Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau Third read on April 17

SB90 Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau Sent to committee Jan. 31

SB608 Anita Yeckel, R-St. Louis Combined with SB89