U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn), saying use of methamphetamines has reached epidemic proportions in Minnesota, joined Sen. Jim Talent (R-Missouri) in introducing legislation to limit the availability of drugs that are used in methamphetamines' production.

At a Jan. 26 news conference in Washington D.C., Coleman and Talent said their proposed "Combat Meth Act of 2005" would:

• Limit access to key ingredients needed to produce meth, in particular pseudoephedrine, which can be found in many conventional cough and cold medicines by placing them behind the counter; 

•Provide an additional $15 million under the COPS program to train state and local prosecutors and law enforcement agents for the investigation and prosecution of meth offenses; 

•Expand the meth “Hot Spots” program to include personnel and equipment for enforcement, 
prosecution, and environmental cleanup; 

•Provide $5 million to hire additional federal prosecutors and train local prosecutors in state and 
federal meth laws and cross designate them as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys, allowing them to 
prosecute both federal and state meth cases; 

•Provide $5 million for states and businesses that legally sell ingredients used to cook meth with 
resources to monitor purchases of meth precursors and provide training expenses and technical 
assistance to law enforcement personnel and business employees; 

•Provide $2.5 million in grant funding for drug endangered children rapid response teams to promote collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies to assist and educate children that have been affected by the production of meth; 

•Authorize the creation of a Meth Research, Training and Technical Assistance Center which will 
research treatments for meth abuse and disseminate information and technical assistance to states 
and private entities on how to improve current treatment methods. 

       —Donald H. Harrison