Pubdate: Wed, 28 Dec 2005
Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Palm Beach Post
Contact:  http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333
Author: Pat Beall, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

MORE COLD MEDICATION LIMITS SOUGHT

Five months after Florida began restricting access to
over-the-counter cold remedies containing  pseudoephedrine, federal
lawmakers are pushing a much  tougher crackdown on some of the
best-known brands in  the sniffles business.

If the bipartisan proposal passes muster on Capitol  Hill, photo IDs
could be required to buy such common  and popular drugs as NyQuil and
Sudafed. Written logs  of who purchased the drugs, and how much was
purchased,

It's all part of a national effort to keep addicts from  using cold
medicines to whip up illegal batches of  methamphetamine.
Pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient  in virtually all
decongestants, is also the base  chemical used by home-and-garage labs
brewing so-called  "meth."

No one disputes the need to curb meth, which damages  the brain so
severely that it can take two years for a  user to recover. The issue
is balance, says Randy  Miller, senior vice president of government
affairs for  the Florida Retail Federation.

"If we can help control access to the main ingredient  (in meth), we
are happy to do so," he says. But he  calls the federal proposal
"draconian."

"You wonder if you make it so difficult to get that you  are hurting
an honest citizen who just wants to get a  Sudafed."

The other issue for retailers, of course, is money. In  2004, U.S.
sales of drugs combining pseudoephedrine  with other ingredients
totaled $737 million.

Pharmacists aren't much happier about such rules. "We  hate being the
over-the-counter police," says Dr. Don  Downing, clinical Associate
Professor of Pharmacy at  the University of Washington and a
nationally  recognized expert on pharmacy practices.

Pseudoephedrine and its variations don't actually cure  anything.
Rhinitis, the sniffling, sneezing, coughing  misery they alleviate,
doesn't get a lot of respect,  either: It's called the Rodney
Dangerfield of  respiratory problems.

But consumers in the grip of a grippe don't seem to  care. The first
winter after Illinois adopted  pseudoephedrine sales restrictions
similar to  Florida's, sales not only increased, there were
enforcement problems in keeping the drugs behind the  pharmacy
counter, according to Information Resources  Inc., a Chicago
consulting firm.

Florida's law requires that medicines made up solely of
pseudoephedrine - primarily Sudafed - be sold from  behind a sales
counter, much as cigarettes are. Sales  are limited to three packages
per customer or a total  of nine grams - "a good, conservative first
step," FDLE  Special Agent Rick Zenuch said.

Kmart and Publix stores have gone beyond Florida law,  allowing the
drugs to be sold only from behind the  counter of their in-store
pharmacies. As a result,  Publix stores without pharmacies no longer
sell the  drugs. At Kmart, 299 of the chain's 1,429 stores don't
offer the drugs.

Target went further still, putting all drugs containing  even some
pseudoephedrine behind the pharmacy counter.

The federal proposal could restrict sales of dozens of  well-known
drugs that have some pseudoephedrine. In one  version, drugs would be
sold almost exclusively by  pharmacists or pharmacy technicians.
Retail stores  without pharmacies could sell cold medicines from a
locked case if they got special approval.

Pharmacists also would maintain a written log of people  who bought
the remedies, with their date of birth and  the amount purchased.
Customers would have to show a  photo ID.

Even though the Florida Pharmacy Association's members  might stand to
benefit from the pharmacy-only  provision, the group still has
reservations, says  Michael Jackson, executive vice president and CEO.

"We just hope that... it inadvertently does not affect  access
consumers would have," Jackson says - or create  a paperwork nightmare
for pharmacists balancing privacy  with written logs of sniffling,
cold-weary customers.

The flurry of state and federal legislative interest  comes amid
evidence that similarly well-intentioned  laws in two states have not
dramatically cut down on  meth abuse, even as they chewed into
retailers' profit  margins and thrust pharmacists into the front lines
of  the war on drugs. For one thing, to cook up homemade  meth, "You
actually need drum barrels" of  pseudoephedrine, Jackson says.

Adds Downing: "Most of this (pseudoephedrine) was  bought not from 
pharmacies, but from mom-and-pop stores  selling it out the back door 
by the case."

The FDLE acknowledges much of South Florida's illegal  meth is
smuggled from sprawling labs in Mexico, not  brewed from a retailer's
shelves of cold remedies.

Oklahoma's meth lab seizures fell by 80 percent to 90  percent in the
first year it put cold and allergy  medications behind counters. But
Oklahoma City police  officials told The Associated Press this year
that  while the local meth labs were gone, meth wasn't.  Mexican gangs
filled the vacuum, emerging as efficient  conduits from so-called
superlabs across the border.

The pattern was repeated in Washington state.

FDLE's Zenuch counters: "The threat that is posed by  these labs is
not necessarily in the amount of meth  produced." Rather, it's the
toxic chemicals used by  illegal labs to cook meth and the equally
toxic  chemicals created during the process.

The poisons saturate homes right down to the yard dirt,  permeating
"the drywall, the carpet, the curtains" -  and the children who may be
living there, Zenuch says.  The result is a mini toxic-waste site:
Crews must wear  protective suits and breathing masks for the cleanup,
  which can cost $3,000 to $10,000 per site.

Retailers will likely pay another price for curbing the  labs'
proliferation. One year after Oklahoma put  everyday cold and allergy
medicine behind counters,  sales of well-known brands plummeted 16
percent,  according to Information Resources.

The U.S. market for decongestants is already slipping,  falling from
$135 million in 2000 to $113 million in  2004, according to a survey
by Kalorama Information,  which tracks drug sales.

Drug companies aren't taking any chances. Sudafed  manufacturer Pfizer
has introduced Sudafed PE, which  replaces pseudoephedrine with
another ingredient.

But meth addicts are ingenious at cooking up  alternatives, warns
Downing, who speculates Pfizer's  new ingredient may offer fast - but
temporary - relief.  "There is a chemist somewhere who is going to
post a  meth formula on the Internet" using it, he predicts.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake