Anti-Meth Measure Part of Patriot Act Deal

[Kadie]

Anti-Meth Measure Part of Patriot Act Deal
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 10, 5:46 PM ET


WASHINGTON - The Patriot Act compromise agreed to Friday included a provision to combat illegal methamphetamine by limiting sales of cold remedies used to make the highly addictive drug.

A number of states have already moved to curb the sale of cold pills containing pseudoephedrine, the ingredient used to cook meth in makeshift labs around the country. The federal measure would impose restrictions nationwide.

Stores would be required to keep medicines like Sudafed and Nyquil behind the counter, and consumers would be limited to 3.6 grams, or about 120 pills, per day, and 9 grams, or about 300 pills, per month. Purchasers would need to show a photo ID and sign a logbook.

The limits target meth dealers who buy large quantities of the drugs to extract the pseudoephedrine.

The measure is a compromise reached after months of haggling over the 30-day limit. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jim Talent, R-Mo., who pushed the legislation in the Senate, insisted the limit was needed.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060210/ap_on_go_co/congress_meth_1

[benburch]

1. Can't say I think this is a bad idea.

But what the fuck is it doing in this bill?

[sproutster]

3. Not only that, but why aren't Coke and Heroin? ... Oh heaven

forbid we crack into the gov's take.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. That is EXACTLY the right question to ask, benburch!

Will email my CA senators and ask just that!

Everyone should!

[High Plains]

6. You can thank Sensenbrenner and Mark Souder (R-IN)

Methamphetamine: Patriot Act Extension Deal Puts Souder-Sensenbrenner Meth Bill on Hold 12/23/05

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/416/methbillstalled.shtml

Yesterday's last-minute maneuvers on Capitol Hill extending the Patriot Act as is for one month means a methamphetamine bill inserted into the reauthorized version of the act is now on hold. The Combat Meth Epidemic Act, sponsored by drug-fightin' Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), would impose federal restrictions on the purchase of popular cold remedies and other medications containing pseudoephedrine, a chemical used in home meth cooking. It would also create new prison sentences of up to 20 years for people who sold or cooked meth in a home where children reside (even if they are not present at the time the offense occurred).

Souder and House Judiciary Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) had folded the meth bill into the Patriot Act as a means of avoiding a House floor vote and getting the measure passed in a hurry. As it turns out, that was a mistake. The Patriot Act renewal has been stalled as Democrats and Republicans fight over the degree to which Americans must sacrifice civil liberties and traditional protections from government spying in the unending "war on terror."

The five-week extension agreed to yesterday means the Patriot Act continues in effect as is, without the modifications proposed for "Patriot II." And, according to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), the vote to extend the Patriot Act likely means it's back to the drawing board for the meth bill and its authors. "One thing is clear," Feingold wrote in an e-mail message Wednesday night, "what happened in the Senate over the past few weeks shows that this conference report is dead."

The sponsors of the meth bill hoped to sneak it into law by attaching it to what they thought would be a popular anti-terrorism bill. They got a rude lesson in the vagaries of the political process in a Congress poisoned and polarized around fundamental issues of national security and individual liberty. For the rest of us, it means there are at least a few more weeks when we can use Sudafed and similar products to deal with our sniffles without a federal case being made of it.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. Great idea. The mexican drug lords will love it.

No seriously.

I'm in Oregon, and the new law has stopped some of the homemade labs. I say some, because the hard cores weren't getting it from the drugstores in the first place.

Most tweakers are ok with it, cause now the 'good stuff' from Mexico is being brought in. better quality, and cleaner. no shit.

[benburch]

15. Interesting.

Meth labs are fucking dangerous to live near.

The solution, of course, is to legalize it so it can be made be real chemists in a professional setting.

[Selatius]

2. McCain calls these hanger-ons "Christmas tree ornaments" because

when a bill makes it all the way to the president's desk, it's often got so much junk attached to it that has nothing to do at all with the bill itself that they resemble a Christmas tree loaded with ornaments.

What's the argument Feinstein is going to use if you try to repeal the Patriot Act? That you're weak on drugs and crime as well?

[MichiganVote]

5. Serious meth dealers don't rely on drugstores.

Small time or personal use addicts have relied on the drugstores for supplies in the past. Now a secondary business has arisen on supplies. All this will be is another nuisence for consumers b/c some people want to be fucked up.

[Hippo_Tron]

7. Pretty soon cold medicine will be sold on the street

[Redstone]

8. How about just calling the cops when someone brings a cartload of

the stuff to the register?

How fucking hard is this? Come on! EVERYBODY who has a stuffy nose has to wait and "register" to buy a goddamn box of Sudafed, to stop people from buying a shopping-cart full at a time?

How about just not letting people buy a cart full?

Jesus, people, this ain't rocket science!

Redstone

[BayCityProgressive]

10. I cant say I disagree with this

Meth is a big problem in the gay community and I know of three men who are all HIV+ and meth played a big part in them all.

[Redstone]

12. I know it's a problem; I just don't get why it's so hard to just not let

people buy 100 packages at a time.

Redstone

[peacebaby3]

13. I agree with you.

I was sick and went to get some cold and flu medicine and the pharmacy had closed so I was just out of luck. I was also on the road working a couple of months ago, had a horrible sinus headache so I pulled off and was going to buy one of the single packs at a gas station...NOPE...they don't have them anymore because of the new laws! I had to drive completely out of the way into a town, find a drugstore, and buy an entire box when all I needed was a single packet. As someone who suffers from chronic sinus infections and allergies, this really pisses me off. I'm not making meth but I'm being punished anyway.

I understand how severe the meth problem is because I work in the criminal justice system, but as a couple of other people have already mentioned in this thread, those that make a lot of meth didn't rely on drugstores and grocery stores anyway.

[Terran1212]

11. ...

[jillan]

14. As someone with allergies, this is driving me crazy

Living in Az, where the pollution is getting to be like LA.
No rain for something like 120 days, and allergies. You would not believe what I have to
go through to get some Advil Cold and Sinus.

It makes me feel like I'm back in college!

[JCMach1]

20. Exactly, it is a cheap and effective remedy...

As good for some people as the expensive prescription stuff... I am one of those BTW

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. It's another stupid fucking bill concoted by

a stupid fucking congressman so he/she can put "Authored a bill to restrict the manufacture and sale of methamphetamine" on his/her stupid fucking resume, and so other stupid fuckers can say they voted for it.

It will do absolutely nothing.

Redstone is correct; stores nationwide have already been watching for large-scale purchases of products containing psuedoephedrine and either refusing such sales or reporting them to police. That's a common-sense approach. All this bill will do is further inconvenience people who need these medications for legitimate purposes.

[yellowdogmi]

17. Gee maybe if the repukes hadn't pushed deregulation and

put those ingredients in front of the pharmacy counter instead of behind it we may not have this problem. Just a thought. Dumb Bastards!
:mad:

[rman]

18. what's next? Meth dirty shoe bombs?

[MadHound]

19. And meanwhile, out in some garage laboratory in the wilds of Missouri

Some knowledgable biochemist is busy extracting ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from Ma Huang, Chinese Ephedra, Chinese jointfir or Indian jointfer planst that they have grown, and once he is successful, no need to rely on the Mexican meth that is currently flooding the streets.

Trying to ban substances is futile, these people are intelligent and motivated. They will simply adapt their recipies as needed, and keep right on producing the shit.

Best for all of us if they would simply legalize the shit, make it clean, cheap and readily available. The societal problems, from toxic waste to intrustion on civil liberties, to secondary crime wave would be solved all at once. But god forbid they do something so sensible. That group of elites who are making money hand of fist from the prohibition on all drugs can't stand to see their revenue source dry up.