Wichita ? A law named for slain Sheriff Matt Samuels has helped reduce the number of methamphetamine labs in Kansas, law enforcement officials said, but it has not had significant impact in Greenwood County, where Samuels was killed a year ago at a house used to make meth.

The Matt Samuels Law imposed limits on how many over-the-counter cold medications people can buy because the drugs contain ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which is used to make meth. Adults are now allowed to buy only three boxes of such medicines in a week. Customers also must show identification and sign a register when buying the medicines.

The number of meth labs seized fell from 583 to 359 – more than 38 percent – from 2004 to 2005. More significantly, meth lab seizures in the last half of 2004 and the last half of 2005 – when the Samuels Law was in effect – dropped from 216 to 101, a 53 percent decline, Atty. Gen. Phill Kline said.

“What this is,” Kline said, “is a tremendous additional tool.”

Sedgwick County sheriff’s officers seized seven meth labs in 2003, three in 2004 and two last year. But the real impact of the law can be seen in the reduction of meth dump sites and of thefts of anhydrous ammonia, said Sgt. Greg Pollock, of the county’s narcotics and vice section.

The number of dump sites found in Sedgwick County fell from 27 in 2003 to two last year, he said. The theft of anhydrous ammonia – another key ingredient in the manufacture of meth – fell from 86 in 2004 to 25 last year.

But in Greenwood County, signs of success are harder to find. The law is still so new, “we haven’t seen much of an impact,” Undersheriff Dick Clark said.

“Meth is definitely a problem, and it will be for some time,” Clark said. “We are still finding remnants of labs. We are still finding people who are using and selling.”

Scott Cheever, 23, has been charged with Samuels’ murder and faces the death penalty. Prosecutors say Samuels was killed when he went to serve outstanding warrants on Cheever and didn’t realize realize he was walking into a meth lab.