Congressmen Call for Tougher Restrictions on Meth Chemicals

A San Diego congressman called Thursday for tough federal controls on the chemicals used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine, saying that San Diego has become the “methamphetamine capital of the nation” and that other cities are experiencing a massive surge in the drug’s use.

“Methamphetamine has become an inexpensive substitute for cocaine on the streets of San Diego, Portland and Houston,” said Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego), testifying before a House subcommittee that is reviewing proposed new anti-drug measures. “The user exhibits the same symptoms as a person using rock cocaine but I’m told the high is far more vivid and longer lasting.”

Lowery said that production of methamphetamine, also known as “speed,” has been growing largely because of the easy availability of ephedrine and five other chemicals used to manufacture the drug in illegal laboratories.

Lowery, Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego) and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado) have all introduced bills that would require chemical distributors to record the names of people who buy the chemicals and report the names to the Department of Justice.

Identification Requirement

Buyers would be required to produce identification and state a valid reason for the purchase. The bills differ in the number of chemicals that would be covered by the reporting requirements.

“We may not be able to keep the hard-core professional out of the drug business, but if we make it harder for the amateur to start a meth lab, we will put a major dent in the amount of meth reaching the streets of San Diego and other cities,” Lowery said.

Rep. William D. Hughes (D-N.J.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, which heard the testimony, already has introduced legislation to create a system of chemical sales record-keeping within the Justice Department.

Hugh E. McManus, San Diego County deputy district attorney, testified that 186 methamphetamine laboratories were raided in San Diego County in the 1987 fiscal year, representing 27% of all those seized in the nation.

“It is the few unregulated, unscrupulous chemical supply houses that cause the enormous amount of methamphetamine to be manufactured, sold and used in this country,” McManus said.

McManus testified that the amount of methamphetamine manufactured in San Diego yearly is staggering.

“Clandestine chemists in San Diego have produced, by a conservative estimate, between 8,000 and 10,000 pounds of methamphetamine” during fiscal 1987, he said.

“That is enough meth to keep every man, woman and child in San Diego County high 24 hours a day for three months,” McManus said. “Obviously, since we aren’t all speed freaks in San Diego, vast quantities of methamphetamine are being shipped from San Diego to other counties and states.”

McManus said Congress would do well to duplicate one component of a law recently enacted by the county that requires registration of people who purchase chemicals similar to ephedrine. He praised what he called a “unique and, in my opinion, effective additional requirement” of the law mandating that a buyer wait 21 days to pick up his purchase so that the Sheriff’s Department can investigate his background.