Chemical group vows to help fight drugs

The Chemical Manufacturers Association was quick off the mark last week in endorsing President Bush's "National Drug Control Strategy." CMA says it is already working very closely with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to ensure that President Bush's promise that "we will stop the flow of chemicals from the United States used to process drugs" in other countries is achieved. The strategy calls for the imposition of stringent controls on the export of chemicals used in the illicit production of cocaine in South America and for strong measures to stop the diversion of chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of drugs within the U.S. Regulations designed to meet both of these objectives were put in place Aug. 1, as called for by the Chemical Diversion & Trafficking Act of 1988 (C&EN, Feb. 27, page 17). But in addition to complying with the regulations, DEA has asked that chemical companies take further voluntary measures to help ...