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| Wilson-Backed Federal Anti-Meth Programs Become Law |
March 09, 2006 |
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Federal Law signed Today Restrains Access to Meth Ingredients for 1st Time
Washington, DC - Congresswoman Heather Wilson today hailed tough new federal anti-meth efforts, signed into law today by President Bush, which she cosponsored and worked to include in the final legislation as a conferee on the bill.
“This new federal law takes on the meth scourge,” Wilson said. “The law has new resources and tools for law enforcement, stronger penalties, better cleanup, a new DEA task force and for the first time, federal law restricts access to ingredients for making meth.”
Wilson cosponsored the initial anti-meth legislation, later included in the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act, on which she also served as a conferee.
Two anti-meth bills, both cosponsored by Congresswoman Wilson, were combined within the Patriot Act conference report. The substance of both the Methamphetamine Epidemic Elimination Act (H.R. 3889) and the Combat Meth Act of 2005 (H.R. 314), combine to strongly step up the federal effort to stem the use and sale of methamphetamine throughout the country. New Mexico law enforcement will be able to compete for grants to improve training, equipment and meth lab clean-up in drug hot spots.
“Unlike other illegal drugs which travel across our borders, we can’t stop meth by shutting down the border. Battling meth means controlling the availability of ingredients. We will now have stronger federal policies to reduce the use and production of meth,” Wilson said.
Marking the first federal effort to reduce meth production by restraining access to the ingredients, the legislation tightens access to key contents by requiring that cold medicines used to make it be kept in locked cabinets or behind the counter in stores, and requiring people to show ID and sign a log book when they buy it. It lowers the amount of pseudoephedrine that could be purchased in a day from 9 grams to 3.6 grams. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in meth, which is made through a concoction of common household chemicals. The legislation also strengthens reporting requirements for importing pseudoephedrine.
The legislation toughens federal penalties against drug traffickers and smugglers, and penalties for cooking or dealing the drug in the presence of children. Law enforcement statistics show that more than 30 percent of the time, children are at the scene of a meth bust.
The bill also provides for local and state grants for “hot spots” on the front lines of the effort against meth. New Mexico is a battleground state in the efforts against methamphetamine, which plagues rural areas, and is prevalent in the four corners region of the West.
On November 9, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives also passed support for anti-meth and related enforcement efforts in the Commerce, Justice and State Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2862) by a vote of 397-19. That legislation, since signed into law by the President, included $1.68 billion for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), establishment of a Methamphetamine Task Force within the DEA, $63.5 million in funds nationally for anti-meth initiatives and local grants, $20 million for DEA to assist State and local law enforcement with site clean up, technical assistance and purchase of equipment, and $478 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.
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