AUBURN – For most people, the cold remedy aisle at the drug store or supermarket is a haven of relief and comfort. Shelves are stocked with products designed to dry up sniffles, subdue coughing and put an end to body aches.
For the people who manufacture and use methamphetamine, that same aisle is a laboratory.
A legislative bill announced Monday will make it harder for illegal drug makers to buy cold and allergy medicines used in the manufacture of meth. Targeted are drugs that contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient used to make the drug at clandestine labs.
“Methamphetamine is unlike other drugs of abuse in that it can be made at home with a process easily found on the Internet and materials that can be purchased at any store,” said Kimberly Johnson, director of the Office of Substance Abuse. “The home manufacture of methamphetamine creates a toxic waste dump in the home and creates a fire and explosion hazard.”
Drug investigators have said that methamphetamine is not yet a prevalent problem in this state and yet it is believed to be on the way. Agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency have raided several home labs in the past year, most of them in rural areas.
Investigators have also caught suspects as they do their shopping at local stores. In one case last year, a man was arrested after spending $49 at an Auburn store on cold medicine and other supplies used to make meth. Police said that $49 bought the suspect enough to cook his own supply at home.
“Children living in homes where meth is cooked are not only exposed to the drug,” Johnson said, “but they are exposed to the chemical byproducts which cause burns and lesions and and chemical toxicity that can result in delayed development and other physical ailments.”
The bill was created by Attorney General Stephen Rowe, is co-sponsored by more than half of the Legislature and has the support of State House leaders. It would allow no more than three grams of pseudoephedrine in dry or solid form in a package, prevent the purchase of more than three such packages at a time, and force pharmacies to keep the packages out of public reach.
“Meth addicts are some of the most dangerous people in the world,” Rowe said. “Their families and other innocent bystanders pay the price for their addiction.”
Drug investigators say some pharmacies and store chains already have their own policies for flagging people who might be buying cold medicines for illicit purposes. The bill would make those types of policies mandatory for any store that sells those products.
Senate President Beth Edmonds, sponsor of the bill, referred to state figures showing a small but steady increase in meth arrests and treatment. Between 2003 and 2004, for instance, manufacturing arrests jumped from four to 12, and treatment admissions rose from 100 to 160.
“Once the favorite upper’ for motorcycle gangs in the Southwest in the 1980s, addiction to meth,” Edmonds said, “has become prevalent in the Midwest and has now been found in Maine.”
The bill, L.D. 1601, will be reviewed by a committee and opened up to public hearings before it is voted on. Drug investigators in the past have said such a measure could protect potential addicts as much as it could protect other members of the community. If they cannot get their hands on the proper ingredients, some may avoid the perils of meth addiction altogether.
“Once you start using meth, that becomes your drug of choice,” MDEA Supervisor Gerry Baril said in an earlier interview. “You use to the point of destroying your health. It increases the risk of collapse from stroke or heart failure. You don’t use methamphetamine in moderation.”
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