Meth law welcomed, but unlikely to curb supply

Legislation designed to make life harder on criminals who make methamphetamine is more symbolic than a practical tool for law enforcement.

The bill signed last week by Gov. Jim Gibbons will put cold and allergy medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, the chemical used to make meth, behind the counter at pharmacies. The law completely removes those products from convenience store shelves.

While no prescription is necessary to buy those cold remedies at a pharmacy, those who do will have to show ID and sign their name to a log, giving law enforcement a chance to track people who buy far more of the drug than they could possibly use legitimately.

The legislation drew enthusiastic support from all involved in trying to deal with the meth epidemic, and Gibbons said in signing it the bill serves notice to meth manufacturers that "Nevada is no longer open for their business."

But the meth business has moved on and large numbers of small, local labs are no longer the core of the illegal trade.

Truth is, there don't seem to be very many meth labs in Nevada. Last year, the Nevada Investigations Division managed to bust three labs. This year the number, with just two weeks left in the fiscal year, is zero. That is fewer than the 15 busts two years ago and far fewer than a half-dozen years ago when lab busts were almost a weekly occurrence.

According to law enforcement, that's not because the meth makers have gotten that much smarter. The drop coincides with the rise of "super labs" in Mexico, which now make the vast majority of methamphetamine and smuggle it into the U.S.

"That's very, very true," said Carson Sheriff Kenny Furlong.

He said the local labs have, at least for now, mostly disappeared because of the "tremendous quantities" of methamphetamine being imported into the United States, primarily from Mexico.

But he said things could change again as the U.S. pressures the Mexican government and the nations providing pseudoephedrine to those "super labs" to do something.

"If we have some good successes on the international front in controlling the pseudo-ephedrine, we must make sure we don't fall backward and see the resurgence of (local) labs," he said. "We need to make sure we are prepared."

He said that's why legislation like SB148 making ingredients for making meth harder to get is important.

And he said the bill is indicative of the growing support throughout the community and the state for efforts to combat meth addiction.

"I didn't get a dollar from this bill. I got support," he said.

Capt. Karen Lorenzo, northern commander for the Investigations Division, said meth is by far the biggest drug problem in Nevada.

"It runs 60 percent to 70 percent of the dope cases we work," she said.

That agency, she said, is focused on "mid- and upper-level traffickers." And while those efforts are finding more smugglers than manufacturers, she said the division is still dedicated to putting any labs in the state out of business.

Furlong warned that, while the state fights against meth addiction, "there's a chemist out there developing a new drug and we have to be prepared for it."

He said that didn't happen when cheap, plentiful methamphetamine began to hit the streets but, when the next drug surfaces, "we have to be prepared to stomp on it immediately."

• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.