Pubdate: Sun, 14 Aug 2005
Source: Standard-Examiner (UT)
Copyright: 2005 Ogden Publishing Corporation
Contact:  http://www.standard.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/421
Author: Shane Farver, Standard-Examiner staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

COLD STOP TO METH PRODUCTION?

Need medicine with pseudoephedrine? It may take longer if bill limits
access.

Top of Utah residents who want to treat a case of the sniffles may
soon find themselves part of the war against methamphetamine.

A bill that will be considered in Congress following summer recess
would require that cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a
precursor drug to meth, be sold only from behind pharmacy counters.

Mixing and cooking pseudoephedrine with other chemicals creates meth,
which authorities say is the leading cause of drug-related arrests in
Weber and Morgan counties.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Jim
Talent, R-Mo., is intended to make it harder for meth addicts to
obtain the precursor drug.

Mike Ashment, commander of the Weber/ Morgan Narcotics Strike Force,
said the bill will not affect "super labs" in Mexico.

But it will have a local impact, he said.

"This will probably deter those mom and pop meth labs we see around
here," Ashment said.

Ogden pharmacist Craig Hazen is skeptical that the law, if passed,
will have the intended impact.

"It's not going to solve the meth problem," he said. "It will make it
more inconvenient for patients trying to treat stuffy noses."

The bill will require consumers to show photo identification and sign
a log when buying medicine containing pseudoephedrine.

According to the Web site PDR Health, brands that may be affected
include Sudafed, Nyquil, Advil Cold and Sinus and Aleve Cold and Sinus.

Patients would be allowed about 250 30-milligram pills in a 30-day
period. Computer tracking would prevent consumers from buying
pseudoephedrine at other stores in an effort to get around the
purchase limit.

"They're going to set up a computer system for the whole state to keep
people from buying too much decongestant?" Hazen said.

He added that he recognizes the problems with people buying large
quantities of pseudoephedrine to produce meth.

However, he said he has notified authorities several times of
suspicious people buying large quantities of cold medication and there
was no follow-up.

"They just didn't respond as far as we could tell," he
said.

Hazen also questioned the restriction of mixed cold medications, like
Nyquil, saying it does not make sense.

"I would think you would have to use pure pseudoephedrine tablets," he
said.

Ashment, however, said pseudoephedrine can be extracted from mixed
medications.

Reid Barker, executive director of the Utah Pharmacists Association,
said the bill is one of many steps that could help combat the meth
problem.

"It very well could be a step in the right direction," he
said.

However, there will be new safety concerns if the bill does pass,
Barker said.

"There's one more drug that's behind the counter that could incite
someone to rob a pharmacy," he said.

While Oxycontin addicts have robbed pharmacies to get a fix, Sudafed
in its original form is not highly addictive and therefore would not
push people to great lengths to obtain it, Ashment said.

Utah law does currently place restrictions on how much pseudoephedrine
can be purchased at one time. However, nothing is to stop that person
from getting more at other stores.

The federal bill has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on the
condition that it not interfere with states' making their own rules
about the sale of cold medication.

Oregon, for instance, passed a state bill last month that makes cold
medication with meth-making ingredients available only by
prescription.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, amended the bill to delay the implementation
date to Jan 1, 2007, for medication containing pseudoephedrine mixed
with other ingredients. The implementation date for products
containing pseudoephedrine as the primary ingredient is 30 days after
the bill becomes law.

The amendment should not affect Utahns' ability to get mixed
medications or the meth trade itself, said Adam Elggren, spokesman for
Hatch.

"It's really just sort of a technical provision so that the
over-the-counter producers of combination medicines that do use
pseudoephedrine will have time to adjust those products and won't have
to go behind the counter at that time," he said.

Hatch added the provision to give those manufacturers time to take
pseudoephedrine out of their products, Elggren said.

A vote on the bill in the full Senate is expected by September. A
similar bill has been introduced in the House.

The Associated Press and Reuters News Service contributed to this
article.

Cold Medicine limits

Cold medication containing pseudoephedrine, an ingredient for meth,
would move behind the pharmacy counter.

Customers would be required to show identification and sign a
log.

Customers would be allowed no more than about 250, 30-milligram pills
in a 30-day period.

A computer system would prevent them from buying at other
stores.

Source: The Associated Press
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin