Pubdate: Sat, 08 Apr 2006
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2006 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Heather Polischuk
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)

GROCERS NOT HAPPY WITH PLAN TO REMOVE COLD DRUGS

An association representing Canadian grocers is hoping the 
Saskatchewan government will permanently shelve a plan to remove 
cough, cold and allergy medications from grocery stores.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) disagrees with 
the January recommendation from the National Association of Pharmacy 
Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) to remove multi-ingredient products 
containing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine from grocery and convenience 
stores by Monday.

Those products -- which include Sudafed, Triaminic and Advil Cold & 
Sinus, among others -- are used in the making of crystal 
methamphetamine, the stated reason behind NAPRA's decision. Under the 
recommendation, the items would remain available in pharmacies and 
would not be moving behind the counter.

The recommendation has already been rejected in British Columbia and 
Alberta, but is strongly endorsed by the Saskatchewan College of 
Pharmacists (SCP), a NAPRA member.

"The short of it is, we think it's a socially responsible action to 
take," said SCP registrar Ray Joubert. "We're doing our part as much 
as we can to help control the problem."

While Joubert admits known meth labs currently get their supply in 
bulk rather than from individual sale at stores, he said the effort 
to remove these products from stores is a proactive step to make sure 
it does not happen.

"Our evidence suggests that once these bulk suppliers are eliminated, 
the next target will be retail so we're better off to be positioned 
to restrict our sales right now than to have to react somewhere down 
the road," he said.

Joubert said the SCP passed a series of bylaw amendments in February 
that have been passed on to the provincial government for approval. A 
government spokesperson said a response will be issued early next week.

The CFIG is anxiously awaiting that response, having stated its case 
to the province on a number of occasions, said Gary Sands, 
vice-president of the grocer association. He said his group's biggest 
concern is a belief that NAPRA is doing this to eliminate competition.

"If you want to be proactive, you can't be proactive just with 
grocery stores," said Toronto-based Sands. "That's the problem with 
NAPRA and the Saskatchewan college's argument. If you're going to be 
proactive, if that's your argument, then you must take this out of 
grocery stores and in the pharmacies you have to move it behind the counter."

He said if meth producers start looking for the products in stores 
rather than bulk, the CFIG would support moving the medications out 
of stores, as long as they are also going behind the counter at 
pharmacies. Late last year, single-ingredient cold medications 
containing pseudoephedrine were moved behind the counter to help 
combat the making of crystal meth.

Joubert maintained this is not a commercially driven recommendation, 
adding he does not expect it will cause an accessibility problem for 
cold and allergy sufferers who need the products.

If approved, the NAPRA recommendation would still allow the products 
to be sold in grocery stores that contain a pharmacy.

That may not be a possibility in rural Saskatchewan, said Sands.

"In rural Saskatchewan, you do have a lot of communities where 
there's a grocery store but no pharmacy, and that's what I think some 
of the retailers are concerned about," he said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom