— A problem that has been a high priority with all area law enforcement agencies for the past several years is the illegal purchase, manufacture, use, and sale of methamphetamine.

Over the years, the Missouri Legislature has passed new pieces of legislation to address the concerns of this abuse to assist law enforcement efforts to curtail this enormous economic drain to our society. As those legislative changes have been implemented, the meth cooks and dealers have come up with ways to circumvent the law in every case.

They have been successful in replacing different components of the cooking process as those components have been addressed by legislation. The one component that cannot be substituted or replaced in this process is pseudoephedrine.

Prior to legislative changes in 1976, products containing pseudoephedrine could only be purchased with a prescription. After that, the meth lab incidents started a steep increase. In fact, Missouri has ranked first in the nation in meth lab incidents since 2001.

 Since then, Jasper County has consistently ranked  No. 1, No 2 or No. 3 for  meth lab incidents in the state of Missouri. This is not a statistic for us to be proud of. In 2003, there were 16,068 meth incidents nationwide of which Missouri accounted for 2,860 of that total. In 2005, Missouri passed legislation limiting the amount of pseudoephedrine purchased per day to 3.6 grams and 9 grams per month, required pseudoephedrine to be placed behind the counter, and required purchasers to provide identification. That legislative change started a slow decrease in meth lab incidents. However, in 2005, there were still 2,252 meth incidents that resulted in 3,602 arrests. That decrease was short-lived: In 2008 the incidents and arrests started to increase again.

Meth-related offenses account for approximately 31 percent of all drug convictions in Missouri costing taxpayers $17.6 million per year for incarceration and supervision, $8.3 million for treatment for meth addicts, and another $2.1 million for meth lab cleanups.

In an effort to counter the ever increasing number of meth incidents and related financial burdens placed on taxpayers, two states have passed laws requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine, Oregon and Mississippi. Oregon’s law became effective in July, 2006, and resulted in a 95 percent reduction in meth lab incidents and 31 percent reduction in overall drug arrests. Since then Oregon has also seen a 20 percent decrease in meth drug treatment admissions.

Mississippi’s prescription-only law became effective July 2010, and has resulted in a 65 percent reduction in meth lab incidents within the first six months.

When the prescription-only concept started to surface in Missouri a couple of years ago, I was opposed to the idea because of the inconvenience and/or expense it might create for law abiding citizens in Jasper County.

After sitting through many educational programs and doing a lot of soul-searching, I have changed my stance on this issue. I am now thoroughly convinced that Missouri must pursue this path and pass prescription-only legislation to address this devastating cancer to our society. I also realize that the pharmaceutical industry is enormous and it will lobby against this type of legislation to protect their company profits.

I understand many people think pseudoephedrine products are the only products that will help cure their problems.

 Manufacturers have eliminated pseudoephedrine from many over-the-counter cold and allergy medications. Only 15 name brand over-the-counter medications contain pseudoephedrine and no children’s remedies contain pseudoephedrine.  

As of January 27, 2011, 26 jurisdictions in Missouri have passed city/county ordinances requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine, resulting in 125 pharmacies in those jurisdictions dispensing pseudoephedrine only by prescription. An additional 228 individual pharmacies have voluntarily chosen to require a prescription.

 I would urge each of you to strongly support local and state attempts to pass this much needed legislation.

Remember:

Methamphetamine cannot be produced without pseudoephedrine.

 All pseudoephedrine is manufactured outside the United States.

 The importation of pseudoephedrine has nearly doubled since 2005.

Archie Dunn is the sheriff of Jasper County.