Pubdate: Tue, 28 Jun 2005
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

DRUGMAKERS TAKE ACTION TO FOIL METH COOKS

Makers of cold medicine are reformulating their products to make it
nearly impossible to convert them into illegal methamphetamine in the
crude home labs that have sprung up across the USA.

For years, meth addicts have purchased large quantities of
over-the-counter decongestants, such as Sudafed, that contain
pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine can be cooked with household products
into methamphetamine, a highly addictive illegal stimulant.

In response, many states have passed laws that make it more difficult
to purchase the medicine. Some now require people who purchase it to
show identification and register in a ledger. Others require
drugstores to place the medicine behind the pharmacy counter.

Moving behind the counter

At least 44 states have passed or are considering legislation to
restrict products that contain pseudoephedrine. In addition, the U.S.
Senate is considering legislation that would impose strict standards
on products made with pseudoephedrine. The bill proposes placing the
products behind the counter, requiring customers to show
identification and sign a log book, and limiting how much can be sold
at a time.

"We think this federal legislation will pass, and even if it doesn't,
there's a patchwork of state legislation," says Sen. Jim Talent,
R-Mo., who co-sponsored the federal legislation. "More and more,
pseudoephedrine products are going to go behind the counter."

To provide over-the-counter cough, cold and allergy products,
companies such as pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and generics
manufacturer Leiner Health Products are adding new lines of
decongestants that use phenylephrine instead of pseudoephedrine.
Phenylephrine, a medicine that has been on the market for years in
such products as Alka-Seltzer cold medicine, works similarly to
pseudoephedrine and is approved by the Food and Drug
Administration.

Pfizer introduced a decongestant-only phenylephrine product, Sudafed
PE, in January and will begin rolling out other products next month
that contain phenylephrine with other ingredients, Pfizer spokesman
Jay Kosminsky says. A full line is expected by January, he says.
Pfizer will continue to manufacture Sudafed and other products with
pseudoephedrine, but they will be subject to state restrictions.
Leiner, which supplies generic over-the-counter drugs to large
retailers such as Costco, Walgreens and Wal-Mart, began shipping its
new products to stores this month and will have a full line of 17
alternatives to pseudoephedrine medicine by spring, spokeswoman
Crystal Wright says.

"The whole issue here has been getting the right balance," Kosminsky
says. "We want to keep it out of the hands of criminals but make it
available to consumers."

Pfizer has been working for several years to create a pseudoephedrine
medicine that couldn't be used to make meth, Kosminsky says. The
company's researchers came up with one product, but scientists and the
Drug Enforcement Administration said that it wasn't foolproof.
"Eventually, the criminals find their way around it," Kosminsky says.
"We would just be staying one step ahead of them. We wanted a more
permanent solution."

Shutting down home labs

Information Resources Inc., a market research company, estimates that
sales in 2004 of over-the-counter cough, allergy, sinus and flu
products totaled $3.2 billion. More than half of those sales, about
$1.7 billion, came from products containing pseudoephedrine. The
numbers do not include sales from Wal-Mart or retail clubs. The
research company found that sales of pseudoephedrine products in
Oklahoma, the first state to impose restrictions, declined 16% in the
year after sales were restricted.

Although two-thirds of the meth in the nation is imported from "super
labs" operating in Mexico, meth labs are a problem, particularly in
the Midwest. Last year, law enforcement shut down about 9,725 labs
nationwide, according to the National Clandestine Laboratory Seizure
System, which collects data from state police agencies. Missouri,
Tennessee and Arkansas led the nation in shutdowns. The home labs pose
environmental, fire and social hazards for local communities, DEA
Special Agent Mike Heald says. He says the new chemical formulations
will create an obstacle for home cooks.

"If there were no pseudoephedrine, you would see a dramatic drop in
small meth labs," Heald says. "With pseudoephedrine, it's very simple
to do with common household chemicals.

"There's no real chemistry involved. It's like baking a cake."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin