Attorney general eyes pharmaceutical industry for meth costs (Minnesota)

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/13898495.htm

ST. PAUL - Saying the state's efforts to curb methamphetamine use haven't worked, Attorney General Mike Hatch on Friday proposed going after big pharmaceutical manufacturers to recover the government's costs for meth-related problems.
Hatch said he's working on a lawsuit against about six large companies that make products containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine - active ingredients in cold medicines like Sudafed that are broken down by meth cooks.
A state law passed last year makes those remedies harder to get, restricting their sale to pharmacy counters, limiting how much customers can buy and requiring them to sign for purchases. Law enforcement experts credit the law with sharply reducing homegrown meth labs in Minnesota.
But meth use is still going strong, with most of the drug coming in from other places.
"We're deluding ourselves that putting Sudafed behind the counter was the solution," Hatch said at a news conference. "It is an epidemic just like the avian flu, only it's here. It's real."
Hatch is also pitching legislation to hold pseudoephedrine makers liable for damages caused by meth labs. The bill would be modeled on a 1994 landfill cleanup law that