By Fiona Ortiz BUENOS AIRES, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Argentina on Friday announced tighter controls over the import and use of ephedrine to curb production of the illegal drug methamphetamine and said it will help the pharmaceutical industry find alternative ingredients. The country has recently seen increased violence related to trafficking in ephedrine, which is used to manufacture legal medications such as decongestants but is also the main ingredient in the addictive stimulant methamphetamine. "From now on only (pharmaceutical) laboratories will be able to import ephedrine and pseudoephedrine," Justice Minister Anibal Fernandez told reporters at a news conference. He said drug wholesalers will have 10 days to declare their stock of ephedrine, sell it to laboratories and not to other wholesalers or drug store chains, and then get out of the ephedrine import business. That new rules and other restrictions will be published next week in a government decree. Mexico, the world's largest producer of methamphetamine that is mostly consumed in the United States, has completely banned imports of ephedrine. Drug control agencies have noticed that ephedrine, produced in China and India, is increasingly entering South America and Central America to be smuggled into Mexico. In late 2006 officials in Argentina began seeing a big jump in imports of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Argentina imported 19 tonnes of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine last year, and 16 tonnes so far this year, Jose Granero, head of the government's drug prevention office, said at the news conference. U.S. drug officials and local media have cited much higher numbers. Argentina will not take the drastic step of prohibiting ephedrine because the nation's booming pharmaceutical industry uses tonnes of it every year, the officials said. But they declined to estimate the current level of legitimate use. "We don't believe in a total prohibition because we think it has to be a process," said Health Minister Graciela Ocana. The government will form a commission to work with the pharmaceutical industry to identify and promote substitutes. Police recently broke up a methamphetamine lab outside Buenos Aires and arrested nine Mexicans and an Argentine who were running it. In early August, three men were found dead in a ditch near Buenos Aires, shot in the back, and police have linked them to the illegal ephedrine trade. Argentine consumption of cocaine and marijuana is high, but the country has been safe so far from the drug cartel violence that has plagued other Latin American countries. (Editing by Anthony Boadle)
Flood victims wait to collect packets of drinking water at Jankinagar village in Purniya district, India's eastern state of Bihar September 5, 2008. Authorities battling a massive deluge in Bihar issued ...
