Stopping the Spread of Crystal Meth

Maine Attorney General and possible U.S. Senate candidate Stephen Rowe is submitting legislation to head off the rising use of crystal meth. The bill would limit the availiabilty of pseudoephedrine, the common cold medicine that is a key ingredient of the addictive drug.

“We already have the problem, but we don’t have the problem they have in other states — yet,” Rowe said last week. “But the wave is on the way, and we need to get ahead of the curve.” [...]

[UCLA professor Richard Rawson] said the Web has helped people find the recipe for the drug and start their own meth labs.
“While you have had only a few cases in Maine of these labs, I think what has been happening across the country is now getting into your state,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to stop at the New Hampshire border.”
Rawson said he was in a town in eastern Oregon that has four police officers. “The police chief told me last year his officers made more arrests for methamphetamine than tickets they handed out for speeding. I hope Maine listens to your attorney general and gets ahead of the curve.”

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