State Sen. Chris Koster, D-Harrisonville, inadvertantly chose a packed political news day Friday to stop by St. Louis to promote his proposals to curb “the use of meth and increase public awareness about its dangers.”

 Koster, a Democratic candidate for Missouri attorney general, has proposed “the Missouri Methamphetamine Project.”

“Missouri has the highest rate of meth lab activity in the country,” said Koster at an event in St. Louis, where he was joined by Fraternal Order of Police State President Kevin Ahlbrand and state Reps. Rodney Hubbard and T.D. El-Amin.  “Meth use is not only increasing at an alarming rate in rural Missouri, but it’s also growing here in the city of St. Louis,” Koster said.

Koster’s proposed Missouri Methamphetamine Project is touted as providing help “to attack meth use from all sides: educating, tracking, sentencing, and training.”

“The six components of Senator Koster’s legislation are the following:

“Step 1 – Koster seeks to include Missouri in a new “meth education project,” which will raise awareness of the dangers and stop people from using in the first place.

“Step 2 – To more thoroughly track potential abuse, Koster seeks to monitor sales of pseudophedrine, the active ingredient in sinus medication like Sudafed– which contains key ingredients of meth – via an electronic database.

“Step 3 – Koster wants to improve pay for Sheriff’s Deputies to attract the best new recruits and retain the best existing officers so law enforcement can have the resources they need to fight meth abuse.

“Step 4 – The Koster bill seeks to increase sentences on those who deal meth, so they don’t come back into our communities any time soon. 

“Step 5 – Koster will change the law so that people caught with meth in a home shared with children will face the additional crime of child endangerment.

“Step 6 – Koster will require all individuals convicted of meth possession to undergo mandatory substance abuse treatment and drug testing with supervised probation.   

Koster, a former Republican who switched parties last August, noted that the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed his bid for attorney general.