In the wake of the Legislature's passage of a watered-down version of a bill originally aimed at making it tougher to get the main ingredient needed to make methamphetamine, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has decided on an end run around lawmakers.

On Tuesday, Goddard was in Flagstaff at a meth community forum to see if the support exists in the city to add Flagstaff to a growing number of cities enacting their own tougher restrictions on the availability of pseudoephedrine in cold tablets sold in stores.

"We have a phenomenon growing in our state right now," Goddard said, adding that communities are taking action in response to the weakened law passed by the Legislature that goes into effect Nov. 1.

In Flagstaff, though, just one meth lab has been found so far in 2005. And law enforcement officials estimate that 80 percent of the meth seized locally is from superlabs in Mexico or California, not home labs.

About 40 community members attended the forum. Among the audience members were police, anti-narcotic agents, a judge, several members of the drug-treatment community and residents.

State Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Flagstaff, sat on the panel that included Goddard and Brad Mattingly, director of the county's DUI/Drug Court. Mattingly offered sobering information about the severity of meth addiction and the difficulty in treating the addiction.

Ed Smith, a 16-year resident of Flagstaff who works for the Nature Conservancy, said Goddard's idea for local communities to stand up and send a message to the Legislature had merit.

"It makes much more sense to enact statewide legislation," Smith said. "The legislation is going to have to have the guts to put cultural and social decisions above economic decisions."

He added that communities enacting their own tougher ordinances is "piecemeal."

Critical of Goddard's efforts, Flagstaff resident Geoff Stickler, former owner of Price Chopper store, said the support for community ordinances is inappropriate.

The new law passed by the Legislature hasn't even gone into effect yet, Stickler said.

"I'd like to see it given a chance to see if it works," Stickler said.

Pseudoephedrine, available in common cold remedies like Sudafed, when "cooked" with other chemicals creates methamphetamine. Meth cooking operations, called labs, are highly toxic, potentially explosive and are expensive to clean up, according to Flagstaff police officials.

The Legislature approved a bill in May that requires pseudoephedrine pills be taken from the open shelves of groceries, convenience and drug stores.

The bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Janet Napolitano and goes into effect Nov. 1, requires the pills be stored behind the counter or in a locked display case.

Goddard and some legislators proposed a much sterner law that would require pseudoephedrine be sold in limited amounts and would require presentation of identification and signing of a log book.

The legislation was based on a law in Oklahoma, which resulted in an 80 percent drop in clandestine meth labs in the state.

In Flagstaff, Police Chief J.T. McCann and Coconino County Sheriff Bill Pribil both publicly supported the legislation proposed by Goddard and Rep. Tom O'Halleran, R-Sedona .

After the legislation was signed into law, some Arizona communities enacted their own restrictions on the sale of drugs with pseudoephedrine. The local restrictions are precluded under the new law and drug manufacturers have stated a lawsuit against the cities is being considered.

To date, Cottonwood, Camp Verde, Phoenix, Payson and Tucson have enacted restrictions that are stronger than the state law.

Kirkpatrick said that the county Board of Supervisors is in the process of setting up a task force to explore the issue. Goddard said that the Flagstaff City Attorney has been given drafts of ordinances passed in other communities, and Flagstaff City Councilmembers have expressed an interest in the information.

Local, state and federal anti-drug agents in Flagstaff have said that although any help they get is good, only about 20 percent of the meth on Flagstaff's streets is the result of home labs that any state or local restrictions would affect.

About 80 percent of the meth agents seize on the street is nearly pure meth manufactured in superlabs in Mexico or California that don't rely on over-the-counter packages of drugs that contain pseudoephedrine.

Only one meth lab has been discovered in Flagstaff in 2005.

Goddard said the state faces two distinct problems: Meth that comes from Mexico and meth of local manufacture.

"We've got a serious problem on the border," Goddard said. "But that doesn't mean the 20 percent isn't a very important part of the problem. There's community impacts that are significant."

He cited impacts on children, on neighborhoods, on hospital admissions, and the need to get rid of the highly toxic waste by-products of cooking meth.

And the 20 percent figure, nobody knows for sure, Goddard said.

"There's a whole lot more labs out there we're not finding," Goddard said.

He said that 10 years ago, the importing of pseudoephedrine from other countries was one-third what it is now.

It's time to start the dialogue at the community level, Goddard said.

"We want to provide as much information as we can, but this is very much a local effort," Goddard said. "I would like to get a sense of what kind of support there is (in Flagstaff) for this kind of action."

Goddard added that he will support the reintroduction of a stronger proposal next legislative session.

"I just think this issue is too important," Goddard said.

Police officials have consistently pointed to a growing connection between meth use and certain types of crime, like burglaries and thefts, domestic violence and consumer fraud.

Meth is a stimulant that is 10 times more powerful and lasts hours longer than cocaine. Meth is not a recreational drug. People who use it get quickly addicted, with habits growing to hundreds of dollars a week. And meth addicts have a very low recovery rate from the drug -- 6 percent according to one local estimate.

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