Kentucky meth producers skirt stricter laws
Producers of methamphetamine in Kentucky are circumventing stricter laws regulating the drug’s ingredients by traveling to states with looser laws to purchase the pills they need, police said.
The state law passed in 2002 that made possession of more than 24 grams of ephedrine or pseudophedrine illegal was intended to crack down on the manufacturers of methamphetamine, which has become an epidemic in many poor Kentucky communities.
However, police said an increasing number of meth producers are buying pseudophedrine pills from pharmacies or wholesalers in nearby states, then bringing them back to Kentucky.
In September, police arrested Dennis Cartwright, 51, and Vanessa Lynn Jennings, 25, after being tipped they were purchasing large quantities of the tablets in Atlanta and transporting them to a meth lab in western Kentucky.
Investigators said nearly 7,000 pills were seized from their car.
“Basically, because other states don’t have the methamphetamine problem we have, they don’t know,” said Owensboro police Sgt. Brock Peterson. “It’s an ongoing battle.”
Cartwright and Jennings were charged with possession of a methamphetamine precursor and attempting to make methamphetamine.
Last year, nearly 300 meth labs were raided in Kentucky, compared to 17 in Georgia, according to Drug Enforcement Administration statistics.
Police said meth producers are also buying pseudophedrine in Indiana, where a state lawmaker has proposed a law requiring retailers to store cold medication behind the counter and purchasers to provide photo identification and sign for the pills.
In Tennessee, lawmakers have established a voluntary “meth watch” program to educate retailers about the pills used to make meth and encourage them to monitor their sales.