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. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake