NEW YORK - Where there??s a will, there??s a way. That seems to be the case for methamphetamine users who are sidestepping laws that put cold, flu and allergy medications containing pseudoephedrine behind pharmacy counters and off of convenience store shelves.
The New York Times reports that addicts and dealers have become experts at making meth in moving vehicles ?" a "one-pot lab" method, often in their own cars ?" and that they discard the remnants and chemical byproducts on the side of the road (and possibly dumpsters) as they drive around in an effort to destroy evidence and evade law enforcement.
"The way to get rid of your meth lab these days is to put it in a plastic bag, then throw it out the car window," William Wargo, the chief investigator for the prosecuting attorney??s office in Elkhart County, Ind., told the newspaper.
The products meth-makers are using include a 2-liter plastic bottle and common household items, such as compress cold packs, acetone, peroxide and still some cold pills containing pseudoephedrine but in much smaller quantities.
Officials in Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee are working to identify and clear the debris before a Good Samaritan cleaning up roadside litter handles it. What someone may think is simply a discarded 2-liter bottle could actually be highly explosive and corrosive.
"Well, that??s not pop," Paul G. Matyas, the undersheriff in Kalamazoo County, Mich., told the newspaper. "You pick it up, and it could explode. Acid could spill and burn you. At one of the sites about a week ago, we found a dead deer, and I know exactly what happened."
Oklahoma became the first state in 2004 to pass a law to limit access to pseudoephedrine. On March 9, 2006, then-President Bush signed into law the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act. Among that bill??s provisions was the Combat Meth Act, which is intended to curb the availability of certain chemicals used in the manufacture of meth, such as pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine ?" common ingredients in many over-the-counter cold, flu and allergy medications.
The Combat Meth Act subjects retailers to sales restrictions, employee training obligations and reporting requirements if they wish to continue to sell these over-the-counter medicines.
By now convenience store operators should be in compliance of federal law. However, if you have any questions, contact the NACS Help Desk for a copy of a compliance document prepared by NACS, or contact Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations, at lbeckwith@nacsonline.com.