Countywide

San Diego County’s top administrator has been ordered to report back Dec. 10 with an ordinance to control the sale of chemicals used to produce illegal drugs.

At the suggestion of Supervisors George Bailey and Susan Golding, the board ordered Chief Administrator Norman Hickey and County Counsel Lloyd Harmon to determine whether the county can fill a gap in state law that will exist for the next 10 months.

Bailey and Golding said new state laws regulating the purchase and use of the raw chemicals used to make methamphetamine will not take effect until October, 1987.

If the county does not step in to control the purchase of such chemicals, the supervisors said, manufacturers of illegal drugs will probably stockpile the substances until then.

“San Diego County has developed the unfortunate title of Methamphetamine Capital of the United States,” the two supervisors said in a letter to their colleagues. “As a primary provider of health, safety and welfare in the county, the Board of Supervisors must act now to eliminate a serious threat to our community.”