Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act of 2007

Floor Speech

METHAMPHETAMINE PRODUCTION PREVENTION ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - September 25, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the Senate's passage of the Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act. This is legislation I introduced with my colleague Senator Grassley to make it easier for law enforcement to keep track of purchases of the ingredients needed to produce methamphetamine. I am pleased that the Senate has passed this important legislation by unanimous consent, and I urge the House of Representatives to act quickly to take up and pass the bill.

For years, the manufacture and use of methamphetamine have plagued families and communities across Illinois and throughout the Nation. Current Federal law limits the amount of meth precursor drug products that a person can buy and requires pharmacies to keep a written or electronic logbook recording each sale of a precursor product. The point of these logbooks is to keep track of individuals' purchases so they cannot buy amounts that exceed the limit. The only real reason to purchase over-the-limit quantities of these products is for meth production. So current law limits bulk purchases and requires recordkeeping of transactions.

Unfortunately, meth makers have figured out how to avoid these limits by ``smurfing.'' This is the practice of buying meth precursor products in quantities above the limit by traveling to multiple pharmacies that keep written logbooks and buying legal amounts at each one. It is difficult and time-consuming for law enforcement investigators to find these meth ``smurfs'' when the investigators have to go to each pharmacy and flip through the paper logbooks to try to spot individual names. According to Illinois law enforcement authorities, smurfing now accounts for at least 90 percent of the pseudoephedrine used to make meth in Illinois.

The Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act will help wipe out ``smurfing'' by making it easier for retailers to use electronic logbook systems that can monitor sales of meth precursor products and identify individuals who are illegally stockpiling those precursors. When retailers collect their logbook information electronically and make that information accessible to law enforcement, that information can be used to identify and prosecute ``smurfs'' and meth cooks.

The Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act corrects several technical hurdles in current Federal law that are prohibiting more widespread use of electronic logbook systems. For example, the bill gives retailers who use electronic logbook systems the option of collecting purchaser signatures on paper, as long as those signatures can be clearly linked to the rest of the sale information that is captured electronically. This will provide tremendous cost savings for retailers without hurting law enforcement efforts. Also, the bill permits retailers to enter into their logbook system data about the product name and quantity sold through electronic data capture technology such as a bar code reader. This will help to speed up transactions, and will help avoid transcription errors in the logbook records.

Further, this legislation permits a retailer, rather than a purchaser, to enter the purchaser's name and address and the date and time of sale into the logbook system. It is difficult to design an electronic logbook system where the purchaser is the one who ``enters'' his or her name, address, and the date and time of sale, as is required under current law. My bill permits the retailer to input that information, and then the purchaser must verify that the inputted information is correct, for example by orally confirming the information that the retail clerk reads back to the purchaser. The bill would also permit this information to be captured through electronic capture technology, such as a bar code reader or a software program that records the date and time.

If we increase the use of electronic logbook systems, we will put a stop to ``smurfing'' and cut off the flow of precursor chemicals that supply meth labs in Illinois and throughout the country. That is why law enforcement agencies such as the National Narcotics Officers' Associations' Coalition, the National Criminal Justice Association, the National Sheriffs' Association, and the National District Attorneys Association want this legislation to become law. My staff and I have also worked with the retail pharmacy community and the drug manufacturer community on this legislation, and I am pleased that my bill has received the endorsement of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. I also want to commend and thank Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan and Steve Mange, the head of the Illinois Meth Project, for their assistance in crafting this legislation.

I thank my colleague from Iowa, Senator Grassley, for his leadership on this issue and Senators Harkin, Bayh, Biden, Cantwell, Clinton, Conrad, Feinstein, Johnson, Lincoln, McCaskill, Murkowski, Obama, and Schumer for their cosponsorship.

The production of methamphetamine has plagued our communities for far too long, and this legislation takes a critical step to stop it. I thank my colleagues in the Senate for the unanimous passage of this important bill.

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