METH LAW

[Cure20]

The Issue: Investigation shows multiple purchases are still possible.

Our View: Lack of electronic database creates a hole in the law.

Too often, in attempting to correct a problem, government goes only part of the way. Indiana's new, well-intentioned law aimed at stopping the purchase of large amounts of a cold remedy used in the production of methamphetamine is a case in point.

The law requires that cold medications containing pseudoephedrine be placed behind the pharmacy counter. Purchasers must provide identification and sign a log. And the law limits the amount any one person can purchase in a week.

The intent of the law, passed earlier this year, is to curb the manufacture of methamphetamine, an illegal synthetic stimulant, in crude home laboratories.

But a joint investigation by the Evansville Courier & Press and WEHT-News25 has exposed a hole in the law, one that goes to the government not going far enough. The hidden-camera project sent a Courier & Press employee and a WEHT-News 25 photographer to local pharmacies over a three-day period in October to buy medications containing pseudoephedrine. The Courier & Press employee was able to purchase19 boxes, in all containing 528 pills of 30 milligram Sudafed. The news report said it was enough to make more than two batches of meth.

In fact, the pharmacies followed the new law. They asked for her identification and had her sign a log. In each case, when she returned to the same store for more than the law allows, she was denied the purchase.

But she was able to exceed the legal limit by going to multiple stores. And therein lies the flaw.

The state has not yet established an electronic database that would allow cross-checking from store to store. Granted, that will take time, given that Indiana has more than 10,000 retail stores. And it will take money. Courier & Press staff writer Jimmy Nesbitt wrote that the state police are seeking grant money for a central database system. With such a system, investigators and retailers could more easily identify excessive purchasers. But state police say the implementation of a database is years away.

Now, instead, the pharmacies use paper records. Police check the store logs to see if anyone is violating the law. So far, the law, which took effect July 1, has resulted in no arrests, the news report said. But supporters believe that even without a database, the law is having a positive impact. They cite a declining number of meth labs dismantled in Vanderburgh County this year, and they think the law is contributing to a reduction in meth production, the report said. They see the new process as discouraging some potential abusers from going through the steps.

We hope they're right. Meth is a wicked drug that has destroyed too many lives. Yet we have to wonder. Bad people sometimes find new ways to get around new laws. We wonder, as well, whether the influx of crystal meth from Mexico might supplant the meth manufactured here.

In fact, by the time the state gets its database, the war on drugs may have moved to a whole new front.