Legal approaches to addressing the public health threat of domestic methamphetamine production and use

State policy-makers have responded to the threats posed to the public's health by small toxic laboratory methamphetamine manufacturing by enacting legislation that restricts the sale and possession of certain household products, including those containing pseudo-ephedrine and ephedrine, the essential precursors for the illicit production of methamphetamine. However, the federal government shares concurrent jurisdiction over methamphetamine precursor products and, in March 2006, the President signed the "USA PATRIOT Act" a federal law containing provisions intended to reduce the domestic production and use of methamphetamine.

As part of an NIJ-supported project to evaluate the relationship between state methamphetamine precursor policies and clandestine laboratory seizures, this paper reports on the results of a primary legal research and analysis study to evaluate the nature and extent of state methamphetamine precursor control laws. Legal approaches to controlling methamphetamine manufacturing have varied but include some combination of scheduling essential precursors, restricting the sale of precursors, penalizing the purchase or possession of precursors, and preemption of local ordinances. More than half of states restrict the amount of pseudo-ephedrine that can be purchased, with approximately 10 states imposing restrictions beyond what is required under federal law, and approximately 38 states restrict the sale of other types of precursors. Two states completely preempt more stringent local methamphetamine precursor ordinances. State policy data from this study were central to the other two studies conducted under this project to assess the perceived impact of these laws as well as the relationship between these laws and changes in clandestine laboratory seizures.