By Laurie Kellman

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Suffer from springtime allergies? You could be among the first affected by the USA Patriot Act poised for final congressional passage this week.

Besides terrorism, the bill takes aim at the production of methamphetamine, an illegal drug that cannot be made without a key ingredient of everyday cold and allergy medicines. The bill would impose new limits next month for how much relief a person can buy over the counter.

And beginning Sept. 30, a would-be purchaser will have to show identification to buy the medication.

The measure sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jim Talent, R-Mo., would blanket the nation with one policy that would put medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter and out of the reach of meth cooks.

"If we leave it up to local jurisdiction, we're simply going to move the problem from one jurisdiction to another without addressing the root cause," said Fresno, Calif., Police Chief Jerry Dyer.

Beginning 30 days after President Bush signs the law, which he is expected to do sometime this week, purchase limits would go into effect.

One person would be limited to buying 300 30-milligram pills in a month, or 120 such pills in a day.

Many retailers have already adopted guidelines to limit customer access to cold products or to limit their sales.

Similar state and local restrictions have caused seizures of meth labs to plunge by double-digit percentages in such states as Arkansas, Oregon and Missouri.

At the same time, drug agents began finding more meth from Mexican cartels on the street.

Still, closing down domestic meth labs is of unique urgency to public health and safety, law-enforcement officials said.

The drug is made in clandestine labs with battery acid, drain cleaner or other chemicals that help turn the cold and allergy medicine into powder.

One quart of ether, another ingredient, holds the explosive power of several sticks of dynamite, said Sgt. Jason Grellner of the Franklin County, Mo., Narcotics Enforcement Unit, which has seized 600 meth labs since 1998 in a jurisdiction of 100,000 people.

Wading into the toxic soup of a meth lab puts officers in situations for which they may not be trained, Grellner said.

"They have to know the job of a hazardous-waste chemist. They have to have the mindset of a firefighter. They have to be a natural-resources worker," Grellner said. "Wearing that many hats is a safety concern."

And an abandoned lab becomes an environmental hazard, Dyer said.

Meth cooks "were leaving the chemicals and equipment out in the open and vacating the property," Dyer said. "They found out that we started to trace down suspects with that equipment. Now they are burying [the] items underground."

Meth provisions


Some highlights of the Patriot Act's new provisions that would crack down on the manufacture, distribution and use of methamphetamine:

• Move cold medicines with pseudoephedrine, a main ingredient of methamphetamine, behind the counter in retail stores.

• Impose limits on how much a person can buy: 300 30-mg pills in a month and 120 a day. An exception would be "single-use" amounts of individually packaged pseudoephedrine products.

• Require signature and identification for purchases.

• Authorize $585 million for enforcement, training and research into treatment. The money would include $20 million for grants for children exposed to the methamphetamine drug trade.

• Criminal provisions to qualify more manufacturers and dealers for "kingpin" legal status and subject them to harsher penalties.


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WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TERRORISM?

It doesn't have anything to do with terrorism. But I fully support stricter regulation of pseudoephedrine.

So do most of us. Why don't they throw an abortion law on the Patriot Act? I mean, let's just massively expand it to encompass even more!

White trash people high on crank
Doo-dah, doo-dah...

Nothing. Regardless this is something that needs to be done. I agree that it is not terrorism related, but it's a serious problem. And I am glad to see the Patriot Act actually doing something useful and taking steps to curb this growing epidemic. If the PA wants to take steps to stop meth from being produced in masses with legal chemicals, I'm all for it. Because any other attempts at getting legislation for this medication being not as accessable will get the loudest cries from the all powerful pharmacutical industry. Meth is a fucked up drug that destroys pretty much everything it comes in contact with. The only problem I have is this sets precedent for the Patriot Act to step outside of it's terrorism boundry and change other things.

You can watch in full the recent Frontline piece on Meth here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/

I can't believe that my government would mislead me as to the purpose of the USA PATRIOT Act!

Some people think drug companies are terrorists.

Wouldn't it make more sense if they passed this as a law by itself?

Hey guys! Meth is bad!

Why are they tacking drug laws onto anti-terror and national defense acts? This is utterly, completely ridiculous. Does no one else get alarmed at how they're going to just throw anything into the PA and just say you're unAmerican if you don't agree?

"We have a right to defend our country."

I swear my dumbass Republican uncle must have said that to me 25 times in 2 days.

Followed by:

"3000 of my countrymen died on 9/11, OK? I don't expect you to understand."

This goes well with my military recruiters on college thread.

Thing is they don't have to in America, so often they don't. Courts won't read a section down/out if it doesn't comport with the overall purpose of the Act like they would in Australia. That being the case, any way of getting any piece of legislation on the books flies, and it is routinely taken advantage of.

The drug companies have been anticipating this, or perhaps they are responding to state restrictions, but they are already phasing out cold medicines that can be refined to make meth. I have a feeling that consumers won't like the other types as much as the current ones, elsewise this wouldn't have taken as long I would think.

I for one resent the fact that I can't get the best cold medicine because some fuckwit is abusing an otherwise legal substance by making meth in his fucking barn or trailer or wherever.

The first time I had to put my name on a list to buy Sudafed, I said to the pharmacist something like, "Dammit, I don't live in the sticks, I live in a major city. We can get REAL illegal drugs here."

Nacro-terrorism is big business.... Think Afghanistan and poppys.

Personally I don't think they should stop meth abuse. Let the f**kers rot. Just more social security dollars for me.

Are you calling the United States Government terrorists?

I've got a tshirt that labels me as UnAustralian.

If you wanna make some easy money, print a few off saying UnAmerican. The hip irony-filled kids would love it.

Well, until you see the crime committed by meth users. Sure.

Metho-terrorism doesn't exist.

Oh, I'm sure they could come up with some excuse...