Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jul 2004
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
e4d-4265-936a-7f5c78e2d1b0
Copyright: 2004 The Edmonton Journal
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Tom Barrett

DRUGGISTS TACKLE METH MAKERS

Cold Remedies Moved Behind The Counter

Tom Barrett The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - Alberta pharmacists have become the first in Canada to 
voluntarily restrict access to over-the-counter products commonly used in 
illicit labs to create the volatile street drug crystal methamphetamine.

After rejecting the move last year, the pharmacists decided limiting sales 
of cold remedies that contain ephedrine and pseudoephedrine can help in the 
campaign to stem the growing use of the highly addictive drug.

Products that contain the drugs will now be moved behind the pharmacists' 
counters. Customers will be limited to 60 tablets of 60 mg at one time.

"We want Albertans to know that pharmacists are concerned about their 
communities," said Tracy Marsden, president of the Alberta College of 
Pharmacists. "We have pledged to contribute to solutions to the 
methamphetamine problem."

Consumers wanting to obtain the products for legitimate reasons will not be 
inconvenienced, she added.

Marsden said the college cannot compel pharmacies to comply but all major 
companies have agreed to make the move.

Many of the relevant products, which are mostly decongestants, are also 
available in small quantities in grocery stores that don't have pharmacies.

Officials attending a news conference Tuesday where the announcement was 
made said the move will not stop major meth dealers from manufacturing the 
drug.

But Solicitor General Heather Forsyth, who has been on a personal crusade 
to halt the spread of methamphetamines in Alberta, said the announcement 
must be seen as one more part of a huge campaign.

"We must continue to tackle this problem from every angle in a co-ordinated 
and comprehensive manner," Forsyth said.

Alberta has learned from American states that have been hard hit by meth 
use and has gotten an early start in combatting it, she added.

Staff Sgt. Brad Doucette, head of the Edmonton police department's drug 
squad, said methamphetamine use is on the rise in the city, along with 
related crime.

Doucette said police would like to see federal legal changes that would 
allow them to charge people caught with massive amounts of drugs used in 
the manufacture of meth.

"Right now, the most we can do is seize the substances and even that can be 
challenged in court," he said.

One mother underlined what's at stake in the battle against meth. She 
described how she watched helplessly as her beloved 16-year-old son dropped 
40 pounds in three months. He became a violent, irrational stranger.

The Edmonton-area mother and her husband were finally forced to kick their 
son out of their home and change the locks.

"We lost our son for the most part," she says. "There's no way you can 
describe living in fear as a parent. Wondering every night if your son is 
dead or alive, if he's going to overdose that night or if he is out on the 
streets."

He was arrested for drug possession and through the detoxification program 
at the Young Offender's Centre, volunteered for extensive treatment, his 
mother explained.

The teenager was fortunate enough to be included in a pilot project that 
provides nine-to-12 months of intensive treatment in a residential facility.

"I would say that without the intervention, he would have died," his mother 
said.

She called on the government to establish more facilities. She also called 
for legal changes that would allow parents to have their drug-addicted 
children involuntarily committed for treatment.

"Meth addicts, or I'm sure crack or cocaine addicts, when they are that 
young and that addicted, how can they make a voluntary decision to seek 
treatment?" she asked.

Forsyth said the province is considering such legislation.

The mother said she didn't know if restricting access to drugs used to make 
meth would have prevented her son from becoming an addict but praised the 
pharmacist's move.

"We have to start somewhere," she said. "We can't just wait for federal 
legislation."

The B.C. College of Pharmacists recently alerted members to the growing 
meth problem and told them to watch for people buying large amounts of the 
two drugs.
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