By Clarke Morrison, CITIZEN-TIMES.COM

The scourge of methamphetamine was dealt a critical blow by a state law restricting sales of cold medicines, but Attorney General Roy Cooper says much more remains to be done in the fight against the highly addictive drug.

The number of clandestine meth labs found in Western North Carolina mushroomed from seven in 2001 to a peak of 183 in 2005, according to figures from the State Bureau of Investigation. But that figure dropped to 72 in 2006, and through September of this year just 23 of the makeshift labs have been busted in the state’s 18 westernmost counties.

Cooper and area law enforcement credit a state law that went into effect 20 months ago banning bulk sales of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine products — key ingredients for making the debilitating drug.

“By making it harder for criminals to get the key ingredients, we’ve significantly reduced the number of meth labs in North Carolina,” the attorney general said. “But we still have not won the war.”

The law requires anyone who buys cold tablets containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to show a photo ID at a store counter and sign a log. The law also limits purchases to two packages per customer at a time and three packages within a month. The log must be made available to law enforcement.

Buncombe County District Attorney Ron Moore, who lobbied in favor of the law, said it faced stiff opposition in the General Assembly.

“To me it was a no-brainer,” he said. “You don’t need 1,000 pills to fight a cold. Meth is a tremendous societal harm. It’s just awful, awful stuff.”
Limiting cold medicine sales ‘fantastic’

And the results have been in apparent in Buncombe County, which had four meth labs discovered by authorities last year, down from 23 in 2004.

Illegal meth production has been most prevalent in North Carolina’s mountain counties, with McDowell and Rutherford leading the state. McDowell set a state record in 2005 with 61 meth labs, while Rutherford wasn’t far behind that year with 44. Both counties have since experienced dramatic declines.

“I think the law’s been fantastic,” Rutherford Sheriff Jack Conner said. “It has made a big difference for us.”

Moore said the wave of illegal meth production started in the West and moved steadily eastward. Oklahoma was the first state to approve restrictions on cold medicine sales in 2004. Forty-four states now have such laws.

But the National Drug Intelligence Center says large-scale meth production is on the rise in Mexico, with distribution systems funneling it into the U.S. That is one reason Cooper said he is stepping up public education and law enforcement efforts to fight traffickers who bring meth and other drugs into North Carolina.

The General Assembly this summer approved 12 new SBI agents, some of whom will be assigned to combating the drug trade, he said. Only about 15 percent of the meth used in the state is made in local, makeshift labs, he said.

“People are still using meth,” Cooper said, “even if they don’t get it from a homemade lab.

“Fewer people making meth in North Carolina means fewer children living in meth labs and fewer communities at risk from the fires and explosions these labs can cause. Now we’re focused on cutting the flow of drugs into our state and fighting to keep people off of meth.”
Fighting the drug with education