Pubdate: Thu, 28 Jul 2005
Source: Enid News & Eagle (OK)
Copyright: Enid News & Eagle 2005
Contact:  http://www.enidnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2012
Author: Cass Rains
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

WALGREENS, LAW ENFORCEMENT SETTLEMENT TO BE ANNOUNCED TODAY

A settlement between Walgreens and law enforcement agencies will be 
discussed at a press conference at 10 a.m. today at U.S. Attorney's Office 
in Oklahoma City.

A spokesman for Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics said he could not discuss 
details of the settlement Wednesday because not all agencies involved have 
signed the agreement.

Mark Woodward, OBN spokesman, said investigations into pharmacies' 
violations of Oklahoma pseudoephedrine laws were concluded last week.

"We investigated all the Walgreens stores in Oklahoma," Woodward said. "But 
we also checked the logbooks of other pharmacies across the state.

"We wanted to find out if it were an isolated case, or if it were a bigger 
problem."

Woodward said logbooks from pharmacies across the state were seized for the 
investigation.

He said the settlement would involve Enid Police Department, Garfield 
County District Attorney's Office, OBN, Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. 
Attorney's Office.

In January, following a drug raid in Enid, OBN officials accused the Enid 
Walgreens of accounting for 97 percent of the city's illegal 
pseudoephedrine sales.

Pseudoephedrine is a main ingredient needed for making methamphetamine.

Oklahoma became the first state in the nation to enact a law specifically 
aimed at cutting down the production of methamphetamine.

House Bill 2176, passed in April 2004, is named after three Oklahoma 
Highway Patrol troopers killed in meth-related actions.

The Trooper Nik Green, Rocky Eales and Matthew Evens Act limits the amount 
and frequency in which a person can purchase products containing 
pseudoephedrine in Oklahoma to nine grams in a three-month period.

The law also requires pseudoephedrine only be sold in pharmacies by 
licensed pharmacists in the state.

States surrounding Oklahoma - Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri - have 
adopted laws similar to, or based upon, Oklahoma's law.

The only states surrounding Oklahoma that haven't passed some form of a 
cold pill law are Colorado and New Mexico.

Another planned step to fight meth cooks and buyers of pseudoephedrine is 
the creation of an electronic database that would unite data from all 
pharmacy logbooks.

"It would tie all pharmacies together," Woodward said. "The program would 
either accept or reject sales based upon their purchases elsewhere."

Woodward said the program will be given to all pharmacies in Oklahoma by 
the first of next year.

Tiffani Bruce, spokeswoman for Walgreens, said the store was reserving 
comments until after the 10 a.m. press conference.

Walgreens has 67 stores across the state.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth