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LAWMAKERS PASS BILL RESTRICTING DRUG USED TO MAKE METH

What the bill does: Requires retail outlets that sell over the counter cold medicines containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine with an active ingredient of 30 mg to keep the packages behind the counter.

It also requires anyone purchasing these products after July 1, 2005 to provide proper identification and sign a special register that will maintain a record of the purchase.

Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are found in certain over-the-counter decongestant cold medicines.

Retailers already restricting ephedrine: Kmart, Rite Aid, Albertson's, Target

Meth labs in Houston County: 48 meth labs in 2004 and over $2,090,180 worth of product destroyed

Alabama lawmakers are praising the passage of a bill which will make it tougher for criminals to stockpile over the counter drugs used to manufacture methamphetamine.

The Alabama Senate on Monday gave final approval to a bill regulating the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.

Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are found in over-the-counter decongestant cold medicines and are key ingredients in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

The bill will require the drug to be kept behind the counter.  Customers will have to specifically ask a pharmacist for the drug, sign for it, and present a valid photo ID.

Alabama State Rep.  Billy Beasley, R-Clayton, who owns two area pharmacies, said the bill is a step in the right direction to help combat the growing meth problem.

"I think it will help,"Beasley said.  "Something had to be done in Alabama.  It's affected the lives of many families in our state.  It's dangerous."

The measure won't stop anyone from legitimately buying the drug, he said, but will stop criminals from stockpiling it.

Beasley said he would like to see the state crack down on the drug even more by making it available only in stores with pharmacies.  Some states like Oklahoma already have such restrictions in place.

"I'd like to see it restricted to drug store sales or a store that has a pharmacy,"Beasley said.  "Hopefully we can get that done in Alabama next session."

Michael Pitzing, a pharmacist at Mike's Southside Pharmacy in Dothan, said the new law really won't affect small pharmacies because most already keep ephedrine behind the counter.

It will make a difference however at convenience or larger retail and grocery stores like Wal-Mart where the drug isn't under the watchful eye of a pharmacist.

"They sell them without the pharmacists's knowledge,"Pitzing said.  "I think it will be a major help in a store like that.  It's not a cure for the problem.  But it certainly will help."

Houston County Sheriff Lamar Glover said he also favors the new restrictions because the spread of meth is devastating society.

"We need some safeguards against it,"Glover said.  "We don't need easy access to it.  It has gotten to be a chemical that is in such demand from meth users that we need to limit its access."

Glover said meth crimes take up about 80 to 90 percent of his investigator's time.

"It's a tremendous drain on law enforcement officers, especially the size of the Houston County Sheriff's Office where you have very limited resources and we have to direct those resources at the complaint of the public which is methamphetamine."