The Associated Press
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) -- Some sheriffs in southern Kansas are afraid a new Oklahoma law will send methamphetamine cooks from that state up north in search of ingredients.
The Oklahoma law requires anyone buying over-the-counter cold medications that contain ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to show photo identification and sign for the purchase.
Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are prime ingredients of the illegal stimulant and are found in many types of cold medicine.
“Being this close to the border, I am sure we are going to have people coming over here looking to buy cold medicine to make meth,” Pratt County Sheriff Vernon Chinn said. “It’s a little too early to tell, but I am preparing for some spillover.”
Some of that might already have begun.
In May, four Oklahoma residents were arrested in Harper County after buying about 20 boxes of cold medicine from Anthony businesses. Police also found a map that outlined every Wal-Mart in the Wichita metropolitan area and $4,700 in their vehicle.
An Oklahoma grand jury indicted the four on charges that they conspired to drive from Enid, Okla., to Kansas to buy 9,000 pseudoephedrine tables to be used for manufacturing meth.
Some of the smaller sheriff’s departments are concerned that the problem might grow larger than they can handle with their limited resources.
“Meth is a major problem for all counties,” Chinn said. “The problem is, sometimes it can be bigger than the departments, and now we are going to have to worry about people from out of state coming in, causing more of a strain on the small three- to five-man offices.”
In 2003, there were 920 meth labs seized in Oklahoma, compared with 649 in Kansas. So far this year, Kansas has had 340 labs reported as of June 30 while Oklahoma has seized 378 -- a significant decrease over previous years.
Kansas law enforcement officials say they would like to see a similar law in their state, but short of that, they’ll try to educate merchants to keep an eye out for suspicious purchases.
“We are banking on the fact we are going to see more people trying to buy the medicine up here,” Meade County Sheriff Michael Cox said. “But hopefully, a stranger coming into the smaller towns will be noticed.”
Officials said they sympathize with customers who are buying the medications for legitimate reasons -- such as fighting a cold -- but they add that lowering crime outweighs the inconvenience.
“If you are not doing anything wrong, you have absolutely nothing to worry about,” Harper County Sheriff Kirk Rogers said. “It’s the ones who are using it to make illegal drugs we want to stop.”