MethCheck does not stop ‘smurfing’

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January 11, 2011

Anonymous The Times-Tribune The Times-Tribune Tue Jan 11, 2011, 09:20 AM EST

I am writing in response to Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain’s editorial in which he suggests that Kentucky’s methamphetamine problem is best combated by the continued use of the MethCheck network which is now known as the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx). While MethCheck might be a good tool to block or limit the sale of pseudoephedrine to individuals who are attempting to purchase more than the legal limit, it does not stop “smurfing.” Smurfing is when an individual purchases the legal limit of pseudoephedrine and in turn sells it to a third party with the full knowledge that it will be utilized in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

There are two sides to every issue and, unfortunately, the legitimate consumer is caught in the middle. The pharmaceutical industry is making over $800 million a year from the sale of pseudoephedrine and it is this same industry that is paying for the NPLEx system that Sheriff Cain lauds as the best method to rein in our methamphetamine problem. Their intentions do not serve the best interest of the Commonwealth and of the communities and families already devastated by the scourge of meth.

In over 46 years of law enforcement, I have not seen a more destructive and addictive drug than methamphetamine. We had no meth problem until 1976, when against the advice of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration removed pseudoephedrine from prescription status to over the counter status. Since MethCheck started in 2008, we have continued to see a rise in meth labs in Kentucky. A record year was seen in 2010 when over 1,000 meth labs were discovered and dismantled. These numbers speak for themselves and they do not accurately reflect the true extent of the methamphetamine problem in Kentucky. If anything, law enforcement is undercounting the actual number of labs present throughout the Commonwealth. In addition, methamphetamine costs our state and local governments over $48 million annually. These labs create toxic waste that contaminates homes and the children in them. During 2009, 111 children were contaminated in homes that contained meth labs and a 22-month old toddler tragically died after ingesting drain cleaner that was being used to manufacture meth.

It is therefore apparent that the only way to prevent the continued destruction caused by meth is to schedule pseudoephedrine. Oregon was the first state to do so and the results have been phenomenal. Oregon had the same issues that we have and, in 2005, they made pseudoephedrine a schedule III drug. In 2010, they discovered 10 labs, none of which had pseudoephedrine purchased in the state of Oregon. Mississippi is the second state to schedule pseudoephedrine, with the new law taking effect on July 1, 2010, and they have seen a 68 percent reduction in meth labs in just five months.

Kentucky Senator Tom Jensen has filed Senate Bill 45, a very effective piece of legislation that returns pseudoephedrine to a schedule IV drug. The pharmaceutical industry and Sheriff Cain would have you think that this legislation would not impact the meth problem and would have a harmful effect on the legitimate consumer, whereas Oregon and Mississippi have shown that scheduling is the only way to end the meth problem. The legitimate consumers in both states have seen little inconvenience with respect to their access to pseudoephedrine. The time is now to end the methamphetamine problem in Kentucky and I urge all of you to contact your state senator and representative and urge them to support Senate Bill 45. We do not want to find more meth labs; we want to eliminate meth labs.

C. Frank Rapier,

Director-Appalachia HIDTA

London

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