National Synthetic Drugs Action Plan
In October 2004, the Administration released the first-ever "National Synthetic Drugs Action Plan", which describes the Federal government's response to the production, trafficking and abuse of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and MDMA, as well as the diversion of pharmaceutical products. Among the many recommendations of the Action Plan are those designed to cut off access to methamphetamine producers to precursors such as pseudoephedrine.
Federal legislation will be necessary to implement many of the recommendations set forth in the Action Plan. The new Synthetic Drugs Interagency Working Group, established by the Action Plan, will be developing recommendations to implement key provisions of the plan.
Several provisions of the Action Plan aim to disrupt the ability of methamphetamine cooks to gather the chemicals they need to produce the drug. Toward this end, the Administration supports lowering the Federal limit on single-sales of pseudoephedrine products. The Action Plan's recommendations also include the deletion of the so-called "blister-pack exemption" that currently exists in Federal law. Though the exemption was initially implemented based on the expectation that methamphetamine manufacturers would not be likely to undergo the relatively difficult process of removing small amounts of pseudoephedrine from a large number of blister packs, law enforcement reports that even blister packs are being procured in large quantities and the emptied packs found at methamphetamine labs. For this reason, expecting blister-pack sales to abide by the same rules as other pill containers will help in the fight against methamphetamine production. Similarly, ensuring that these standards apply to the various forms of the product will prevent methamphetamine cooks from switching to alternate pseudoephedrine products, as the pills or tablets become more difficult to procure in significant quantities.
As with any regulatory scheme, it is critical that appropriate penalties be imposed for violation. Tough sanctions should be imposed upon not only methamphetamine producers and traffickers—both at the state and Federal
level—but also upon those who illicitly traffic or distribute methamphetamine precursors such as pseudoephedrine. Especially because domestic superlabs have declined, and some of these superlabs appear to have been pushed to areas outside of our borders, a continuing focus by law enforcement on illicit shipments of bulk pseudoephedrine inside and outside our borders is critically important.
In response to the presence of these widespread smaller laboratories, the Action Plan highlights the importance of improved treatment, prevention, and education measures and makes several recommendations for Federal action in these areas.
Additional measures taken by some states have focused on limiting not only the amount of pseudoephedrine products that may be purchased, but also the location and manner in which the product may be purchased, and have imposed additional requirements for the process of the purchase itself. Over the next several months, the Administration will be closely analyzing the data and results in states where these innovative measures have been implemented. As many of these state actions were taken in the recent past, the Administration will wait for better data and information to emerge before commenting on the effectiveness or impact of the various proposals to reduce methamphetamine availability or methamphetamine laboratory numbers and how they relate to Federal policy.
Critical to the successful implementation of the Action Plan's recommendations will be a continuing commitment to cooperation not only between Federal agencies, but also between the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal government, and a continuing partnership with state and local entities committed to making the methamphetamine problem smaller. We expect that the work of the Action Plan's Interagency Working Group will culminate this year in a final report to cabinet-level officials including the ONDCP Director and Attorney General, and possibly additional legislative recommendations to Congress.
