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Senators, Attorney General Unveil Pennsylvania Combat Meth Initiative
HARRISBURG -- Seeking
to stop the production of the deadly drug methamphetamine, a group of Republican
Senators and Attorney General Tom Corbett today announced a comprehensive
legislative package to address a growing drug problem in Pennsylvania.
The seven bills, known as the
"Pennsylvania Combat Meth Initiative," will make it more difficult to obtain the
ingredients necessary to make methamphetamine, add new protections for children
and clean up the environmental damage caused by meth labs.
Among those attending the
news conference were Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer (R-Blair),
Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill (R-Lebanon), Senator Bob Robbins
(R-Mercer),
Senator Bob Regola
(R-Westmoreland),
Senator Roger Madigan (R-Bradford), Senator Rob Wonderling (R-Montgomery), and
Senator John R. Gordner (R-Columbia).
Robbins noted that meth
production is a serious problem in rural areas of the state, but its popularity
is spreading because most of the ingredients used to make it can be purchased in
local stores. The drug is "cooked" in home-made labs and is highly addictive
and deadly.
One of the bills he is
sponsoring, Senate Bill 1121, creates "Meth Watch." This is a cooperative
program between the Attorney General's Office and retailers to educate and
provide warnings regarding methamphetamine and the common ingredients used to
make it.
"It will take cooperation and
education to turn the tide," Robbins said. "Just as the drug robs users of
their health, the presence of meth in a community robs the community of its
health."
"While the Attorney General's
Office continues to successfully investigate and prosecute meth dealers and
dismantle clandestine meth labs, we need to make it more difficult to
manufacture meth, which in many parts of Pennsylvania is a homemade drug,"
Corbett said. "This comprehensive legislative package and Meth Watch will help
us accomplish this goal by making it more difficult for meth producers to obtain
the vital ingredients they need to manufacture meth."
"It was not all that many
years ago when we had to strengthen Pennsylvania's laws on heroin, because the
drug came back with a vengeance, more affordable, more accessible, more
ingestible, and more deadly," said Jubelirer. "Now circumstances compel us to
step up the fight against meth production and use, and the violent crime that
comes with it."
Madigan and Bradford County
Sheriff Steve Evans said meth production led to the death of two Bradford County
Sheriff deputies who were gunned down as they tried to serve a warrant on a meth
user who was producing the drug in his home.
"We owe it to them, and the
many victims of this drug, to redouble our efforts to fight this deadly
scourge," Madigan said.
In addition to Robbins' Meth
Watch bill, the package includes the following measures:
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Limit the sale of
pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in many over-the-counter cold
medicines. The bill, which must be amended to make it consistent with
federal law, also makes it an offense to knowingly possess ephedrine with
the intent to unlawfully manufacture methamphetamine. (Senate Bill 1116,
Senator Wonderling)
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Make it a specific
violation of the Controlled Substance Act to possess an ephedrine-related
substance with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. (Senate Bill
1118, Senator Gordner)
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Add the definition of
"precursor substance" to the Controlled Substance Act. This would allow the
Secretary of Health to add chemicals to the current list of controlled
substances by regulation if they are found to be used in the production of
drugs. (Senate Bill 1115, Senator Madigan)
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Make it a criminal
offense to operate a meth lab and impose additional penalties for operating
a lab near a school or day care center. (Senate Bill 1117, Senator Gordner)
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Make it a misdemeanor for
a parent or guardian to knowingly operate a methamphetamine laboratory in
the vicinity of a child. (Senate Bill 1120, Senator Robbins)
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Allow the court to assess
costs on a defendant convicted of an offense involving a meth lab to assess
environmental clean-up costs against the defendant. (Senate Bill 1119,
Senator Gordner)
"This legislation will reduce
access to one of their most important ingredients for making meth without
placing undue restrictions on individuals who use pseudoephedrine legally to
treat cold symptoms," Wonderling said.
"Many of the ingredients used
to make meth are now available at pharmacies and grocery stores, so it is
becoming more and more available for young people," Wonderling said. "These
bills are intended to stop the production of meth and make it easier for law
enforcement officials to crack down on those who manufacture this deadly drug."
Gordner added that meth labs
are highly dangerous and can often be costly to clean up.
"Meth labs are environmental
disasters just waiting to happen because ingredients in meth production can
cause explosions, chemical fires and toxic releases," said Gordner. "We need
the tools to shut down these labs and make the criminals pay for the
environmental clean-up costs."
  Robbins
Madigan
Jubelirer
Wonderling
Gordner
Brightbill
Regola
Seeking to stop the production of the
deadly drug methamphetamine, a group of Republican Senators and Attorney
General Tom Corbett on March 29 announced a comprehensive legislative package
to address a growing drug problem in Pennsylvania. From left are
Sen. Roger Madigan (R-23), Sen. John Gordner (R-27), President Pro Tempore
Robert C. Jubelirer (R-30), Sen. Bob Regola (R-39), and Sen. Bob Robbins (R-50.
Not pictured: Majority Leader David J. Brightbill (R-48) and Sen. Rob Wonderling (R-24).
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