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Newsbrief:
Oklahoma
Uses
Civil
Suits
in
War
on
Meth
10/25/02
Oklahoma prosecutors are
trying a novel legal tactic in their effort to suppress methamphetamine
production in the state, which ranks fourth in the nation in meth lab busts.
On October 16, Attorney General Drew Edmondson announced that his office
had filed a civil lawsuit against six Oklahoma County companies and two
individuals who allegedly sold large amounts of pseudophedrine, a key ingredient
in meth manufacture.
In a press release, Edmondson's
office touted the lawsuit as the first time in the state and probably the
nation that authorities had used the civil courts to go after suppliers
of precursor drugs. The lawsuit charges four supply houses and two
markets with negligence, creating a public nuisance, and conspiring to
evade limits on pseudophedrine purchases. It seeks unspecified damages
to compensate communities for "costs incurred in cleaning up meth lab sites
and punitive damages to punish these defendants and deter others from recklessly
selling pseudophedrine." The lawsuit also asks the judge to dissolve
the businesses and to permanently enjoin these defendants from ever selling
pseudophedrine again.
Under federal law, wholesale
distributors must be registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration
to lawfully sell pseudophedrine. Oklahoma has only 35 registered
wholesalers and six of them are named in the lawsuit. According to
Edmondson, the wholesalers supplied more than 6.9 million tablets during
the first seven months of this year.
"Pseudophedrine is a common
ingredient in many over-the-counter cold medications," said Oklahoma Bureau
of Narcotics Director Malcom Atwood. This lawsuit concerns so-called
'gray market' pseudophedrine, a name given by law enforcement to those
brands not usually used as medicine but which are popular with methamphetamine
manufacturers.
Attorney General Edmondson
had been criticized the week before for lax meth enforcement by the Republican
candidate for the position, Denise Bode. Bode joined Edmondson and
Atwood at the press conference last week announcing the lawsuit.
Click
here for the full text of the attorney general's press release.
-- END --
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Issue #260, 10/25/02
Antiprohibitionists Meet at European Parliament in Brussels | Vigilante Drug Bust in Arizona Opens Window into World of Hurt on Mexican Border | Election 2002:00:00 Governor's Races of Interest | Smoke Dope to Fight Chemical Warfare Attacks? Israeli Activists Say Check It Out | This Week's Cop Corruption Story: Two Texas Villarreals | Newsbrief: Federal Court Upholds Drug Tests for Welfare Recipients | Newsbrief: Bill to Ban Salvia Divinorum Introduced | Newsbrief: In Ecuador, Plan Colombia Foe Appears Headed for Presidency | Newsbrief: Feds to Prosecute Ayahuasca Case | Newsbrief: Baltimore Killings Bring More of the Same Old Policies | Newsbrief: Richmond, Virginia Drug Sweep Underway | Newsbrief: Massachusetts Reform Advocates Release Decrim Study as Elections Near | Newsbrief: Oklahoma Uses Civil Suits in War on Meth | Newsbrief: U Missouri SSDP, NORML in Marijuana Petition Drive | Newsbrief: Ontario Court Authorizes Crackdown on Marijuana Growers | Quote of the Week: William Raspberry | Web Scan: DRCNet in the Media, Dan Forbes on Alternet, VoteHemp, Change the Climate, Journey for Justice, Sydney Morning Herald | Job Opportunity: PreventionWorks, Washington, DC | Errata: Polling on San Francisco Proposition S | Calling on Students to Raise Your Voices for Repeal of the HEA Drug Provision | Action Alerts: Rave Bill, Medical Marijuana, Higher Education Act Drug Provision | The Reformer's Calendar
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