Permanent ephedrine ban should be state’s next step

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. That’s especially true when one of the main ingredients needed to make a highly addictive drug can be purchased from dozens of stores around town.

With three meth labs found around Warren County in a week, the problem of meth production is once again showing its fangs. This was a problem which was supposed to be solved last year when Tennessee lawmakers passed legislation to require all cold medicines containing ephedrine to be sold from store pharmacies, and in limited quantities.

It was clearly a step in the right direction and law enforcement officers noticed nearly immediate results. Without a ready supply of ephedrine, the number of meth labs found locally greatly diminished.

But you had to figure that success would be short lived, if for no other reason than the fact ephedrine products are still being sold. And as long as ephedrine is available, meth will continue to be made.

The new law may force people to travel around to 12 different stores to get all the ephedrine they need, but that’s an inconvenience anyone hooked on meth will endure. The new law may force people to drive to another state to buy ephedrine in mass quantities. Again, that’s merely an inconvenience.

Our goal should be to eliminate meth production completely. That doesn’t mean allowing the sale of a key ingredient in limited quantities. The sale of ephedrine-based products should be forbidden, period.

Meth use destroys lives and families. It has caused people to lose their jobs and their homes. It has caused mothers to not even care about the safety of their own children.

Last year’s legislation was a bold move. It was positive change.

But now we’ve seen how meth makers have adjusted. A group of four or five people can spread out over town and legally buy all the ephedrine they need in a short period of time.

This loophole needs to be erased. When state lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next year, at the top of their agenda should be stopping the sale of any product that contains ephedrine.