Faults found in new meth law

EVANSVILLE -- A newspaper and television station recently reported Indiana's new methamphetamine law, passed this spring to restrict sales of cold medicines used to make meth, can easily be circumvented.\nThe Evansville Courier & Press and WEHT-TV's hidden-camera investigation followed a volunteer who repeatedly visited pharmacies in Evansville over a period of three days in October.\nThe woman was able to buy 19 boxes of pseudoephedrine, which amounts to 528 pills of 30 milligram Sudafed -- enough to make the equivalent of more than two batches of meth.\nThe investigation by the Evansville newspaper and television station found that all of the pharmacies followed the law, asking for the volunteer's identification and making her sign a log.\nNo individual store sold her more Sudafed than the law allows, but because the pharmacies use paper records and are not networked, they cannot prevent someone from exceeding the limit by shopping at multiple stores.\n"With the paper logs, there's not that ability to do that," Walgreens spokeswoman Carol Hively said.\n"Obviously, we can't prevent 100 percent someone who is bound and determined to do it and to invest a significant amount of time," CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said.\nIndiana's new meth law, which took effect July 1, affects everyone who purchases cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine. Violating the new law by buying more than 3 grams of pseudoephedrine in seven days is a Class C misdemeanor.\nDespite that, no one from law enforcement contacted the volunteer about the purchases, even though she bought many of the cold pills in the same geographic areas.\nThe new law calls for Indiana State Police to eventually create an electronic database, so that investigators and retailers can identify excessive pseudoephedrine purchasers.\nState police are seeking funding for such a database but its implementation is years away, said State Police spokesman Sgt. Todd Ringle.\nPolice say they check the logs to see if anyone is violating the law and use that to build cases against meth-makers. However, to date, no one in Vanderburgh County has been arrested for violating the new law.\nSupporters of the law point to the declining number of meth labs dismantled in Vanderburgh County -- 39 this year, compared with 69 for all of last year. And they say the law is having some effect in reducing meth production and meth use.\n"The fact that it is not preventing 100 percent does not mean it is not successful," Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco said.\nA state lawmaker who supported the restrictions, Rep. Trent Van Haaften, noted that addiction to meth causes people to have a heightened level of paranoia.\n"If a meth person has to go through the hoops of presenting ID and all of that, they're not going to bother," said Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon.\nBut individual stores' compliance with the law varies, Ringle said.\nA narcotics detective, Sgt. Mike Lauderdale of the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force, said investigators visit pharmacies several times a month to check log books for names of frequent Sudafed purchasers.\nStores must keep the logs for two years for police to review, Ringle said. But ultimately, it's the responsibility of police, not merchants, to check the records.