Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005

Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005
Great Seal of the United States
Other short titles Curbing Production of Methamphetamine Bill
Long title An Act to further regulate and punish illicit conduct relating to methamphetamine, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial) CMEA
Nicknames Methamphetamine Epidemic Elimination Act
Enacted by the 109th United States Congress
Effective March 9, 2006
Citations
Public law 109-177
Statutes at Large 120 Stat. 192 aka 120 Stat. 256
Codification
Titles amended
U.S.C. sections amended
Legislative history

The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 (CMEA) is federal legislation enacted in the United States on March 9, 2006, to regulate, among other things, retail over-the-counter sales of following products because of their use in the manufacture of illegal drugs:

Retail provisions of the CMEA include daily sales limits and 30-day purchase limits, placement of product out of direct customer access, sales logbooks, customer ID verification, employee training, and self-certification of regulated sellers. The CMEA is found as Title VII of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199).[1] The last provisions of the law took effect on 30 September 2006.

Justification

Ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine are precursor chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine or amphetamine. They are also common ingredients used to make cough, cold, and allergy products. It was argued that the CMEA would curtail the clandestine production of methamphetamine. The U.S. Department of Justice claims that states that have enacted similar or more restrictive retail regulations have seen a dramatic drop in small clandestine labs.[1]

Provisions

"The CMEA requires record-keeping and identification of all sales and reports to law enforcement of any 'suspicious' transactions. Purchasers are limited to '3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine base' per day and 9 grams per month. (Buying more than that is a federal misdemeanor.)"[2]

The statute also includes the following requirements for merchants who sell these products:

First arrest

In September 2006, Tim Naveau was arrested and charged with a Class-B misdemeanor for purchasing Claritin-D.[3] Naveau takes one tablet of Claritin D each day to combat allergies, and he "had stocked up on the allergy medication because his teenage son, who was also an allergy sufferer, needed several packages because he was headed off to a church camp."[2] Minors are not permitted to purchase pseudoephedrine under the law. Naveau had gone over the legal limit for pseudoephedrine when he purchased extra Claritin-D to give to his son before he attended church camp.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The Combat Meth Act of 2005: Assessment of Annual Needs - Questions and Answers". U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of Diversion Control. 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  2. 1 2 Roots, Roger (2011-04-05) Cooking Meth: How Government Manufactured a Drug Epidemic, LewRockwell.com
  3. Balko, Radley (2006-12-24). "Man Arrested For Allergies". Reason Magazine. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  4. Barrilleaux, Amy (2006-09-30). "New law could mean bad news for allergy sufferers". News Channel 8, WQAD. Archived from the original on March 3, 2007. Retrieved 2013-04-05.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/31/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.