Cracking down on meth

Cracking down on meth

Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, W.Va.: West Virginia’s new state law aimed at preventing people from using cold remedies illegally to make methamphetamine is likely to face its toughest test in the county where the law was created.

A multi-state computer system that monitors the sale of cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine, which is used to make meth, shows that four pharmacies in Kanawha County top the state in the sale of those cold remedies, according to a report by The Associated Press. And apparently not by just a little bit. The pharmacies sell six to seven times as much pseudoephedrine products as pharmacies of similar size elsewhere in the state.

A lot of cold and allergy sufferers there? Crime data would suggest otherwise. West Virginia State Police reports that nearly half of the 229 illegal meth labs uncovered by law enforcement agencies in the state last year were in Kanawha County. That county also is home to 23 of the 65 labs found between Jan. 1 and March, according to the AP report.

Breaking the supply chain

Part of the substance-abuse law passed by the Legislature in March and signed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin strives to attack the production of methamphetamine. It places smaller limits on how much pseudoephedrine-containing medicines people can buy daily, monthly and annually. It also requires that West Virginia participates in a tracking system pushed by the retailing industry and used in at least 19 states to monitor purchases.

That approach has its share of skeptics, who say those intent on producing meth will simply employ more people to purchase the allowed quantities of the medicines. Law enforcement agencies acknowledge that a sales limit may do little on its own to curb meth production. But if authorities can make good use of the information compiled on purchases, perhaps the law will make a dent.