Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jul 2005
Source: Bristol Herald Courier (VA)
Copyright: 2005 Bristol Herald Courier
Contact:  http://www.bristolnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1211
Author: Staff, and wire reports
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

WEST VIRGINIA LATEST STATE SEEKING TO CONTROL PSEUDOEPHEDRINE

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Want to buy some cold medicine in West Virginia?
Step right up and sign the logbook.

Starting Friday, the purchase of some over-the-counter cold and
allergy remedies will require a picture identification, a signature
and reporting to the state Pharmacy Board, all in an effort to control
the spread of illegal methamphetamine labs.

West Virginia is the latest state to seek to control pseudoephedrine,
found in some over-the-counter cold and allergy remedies. The chemical
can be extracted and used to make methamphetamine.

The law follows the success of similar laws in Tennessee and Oklahoma.
After pseudoephedrine products were restricted in Oklahoma in 2004,
the state saw an 70- to 80-percent drop in meth labs seized. In
Tennessee, there was a 39-percent drop in meth lab busts in the first
month after its law took effect earlier this year.

Lawmakers in Virginia recently tried to move pseudoephedrine behind
the counter, but those efforts failed in the General Assembly. Pills
containing the chemical can be bought everywhere from pharmacies to
gas stations.

West Virginia's law only applies to non-liquid medicines that use
pseudoephedrine as their single active ingredient. But that could
amount to 18 products that pharmacies will have to move from store
shelves, said Richard Stevens, executive director of the West Virginia
Pharmacists Association.

That could lead some pharmacists to reduce the selection of certain
cold remedies.

"Because of limited space, some pharmacists are going to limit their
inventories," Stevens said.

It will only be legal for customers to purchase up to three packages -
or up to 9 grams - of the medicines each month without a prescription.
And because of the space considerations and reporting requirements,
costs could be nudged up for consumers.

Several national supermarket and pharmacy chains such as Safeway,
Kroger, CVS, Target and Wal-Mart have announced new policies on moving
over-the-counter products containing pseudoephedrine to secure
locations in their stores.

A national version of the anti-meth bill working its way through the
U.S. Congress was amended in the Senate last week to carve out an
exception for stores without a pharmacist on duty, such as convenience
stores and some grocery chains.

State Police Lt. Mike Goff said he does not expect an immediate change
in the amount of methamphetamine produced in West Virginia.

"I hope we see some decrease," he said. "But it's kind of down right
now anyway. Things have been kind of slow - not like they were earlier
this year."

"I'm thinking we're probably going to give a lot of warnings and
educate store owners about the new law," he said. "I'm not sure how
many of them are aware of the new rules."

The new law also levels a felony charge against meth makers when their
makeshift, toxic drug labs injure first responders such as
firefighters.

Phil Morrison, executive director of West Virginia Prosecuting
Attorneys' Institute, said the new law opens several new enforcement
opportunities.

"There are a ton of different things in there that are going to arm
prosecutors a lot better than they have in the past," he said. "There
are all kind of steps that this bill puts into effect that weren't
there before."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin