Pubdate: Mon, 14 Apr 2014
Source: Charleston Gazette (WV)
Copyright: 2014 Charleston Gazette
Contact:  http://www.wvgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/77
Author: Eric Eyre, Staff writer

METH-INGREDIENT DRUG SALES DOUBLE AT CVS PHARMACIES IN W.VA.

CVS Pharmacy sales of a cold medication that's also used to
manufacture illegal methamphetamine have doubled over the past year in
West Virginia, according to a Charleston Gazette analysis of sales
data released last week.

CVS stores are now West Virginia's No. 1 seller of pseudoephedrine, a
key meth-making ingredient sold under brand names such as Sudafed and
Allegra-D.

"CVS stores are really crowding the top of the list," said Mike Goff,
a state Board of Pharmacy administrator and former State Police meth
lab investigator.

Michael DeAngelis, a spokesman for CVS, said Friday that the drugstore
chain already is taking major steps to keep the cold medicine from
being diverted for illegal use.

"Our policies and procedures are designed to prevent illegitimate
purchases," DeAngelis said.

Last month, CVS pharmacies sold 11,506 boxes of the cold medication
statewide - up from 5,586 boxes in March 2013, according to a
pseudoephedrine tracking system called NPLEx. CVS has 50 stores in
West Virginia

Rite Aid, which has twice as many stores in West Virginia, sold 7,003
boxes of the nasal decongestant that can be used to make meth. West
Virginia's 37 Walmart stores sold 7,903 boxes.

CVS pseudoephedrine sales jumped significantly in November, after Rite
Aid stores stopped selling cold medications, such as Sudafed 12 Hour
and Sudafed 24 Hour, that have pseudoephedrine as their only active
ingredient. CVS still sells Sudafed and other similar generic-version,
single-ingredient pseudoephedrine products that meth manufacturers
covet, because they yield potent meth without byproducts.

Immediately after Rite Aid stores stopped stocking those medications,
CVS pseudoephedrine sales increased from 4,500 boxes in October to
9,961 boxes in November.

CVS sales have increased every month since, reaching a high of 11,506
boxes last month.

Meanwhile, Rite Aid's sales of the cold medication have dropped by
half.

"Clearly, CVS has filled the void that Rite Aid left by the change in
its store policy," said Dr. Dan Foster, who headed a Kanawha County
Commission task force that studied the role of pseudoephedrine in the
region's meth lab problem last year.

In February, CVS set new purchase limits that are more restrictive
than those under West Virginia law, DeAngelis said. CVS customers can
now buy no more than 3.6 grams of the cold medication each month, and
no more than 24 grams, or about 10 boxes, per year.

State law allows people to buy 7.2 grams a month and 48 grams each
year.

CVS also uses the NPLEx tracking system to block purchases from people
who might try to circumvent its more-restrictive limits by shopping at
multiple CVS stores.

"CVS is unwavering in its support of measures taken by the federal
government and the states to keep [pseudoephedrine] out of the wrong
hands," DeAngelis said. "It is also our policy to decline the sale of
a [pseudoephedrine] product if there is reason to believe that it is
being purchased for any reason other than a legitimate purpose."

Individual CVS stores also are now among the top-sellers of
pseudoephedrine in West Virginia - a list previously dominated by Rite
Aid and Walmart stores.

In March, a CVS pharmacy in Wheeling sold more boxes of
pseudoephedrine than any other store in West Virginia. The Martinsburg
CVS was the state's second-largest seller of the cold medication.

In Kanawha County, the St. Albans CVS store sold the eighth-highest
number of boxes in the state, while the Kanawha City CVS had the 14th
largest total.

Five CVS stores were among West Virginia's top 10 sellers of
pseudoephedrine, and 16 CVS stores finished in the top 30.

Before last November, no individual CVS stores sold more than 240
boxes of pseudoephedrine in a single month. In March, two dozen CVS
stores in West Virginia had purchases that exceeded that amount.

"The Sudafed supply isn't going away," Goff said. "It's just moving
from store to store. You get rid of it somewhere and it moves
somewhere else."

Just as CVS pharmacy purchases have climbed in recent months, Rite
Aid's sales have dropped significantly.

In March 2013, Rite Aid stores sold 14,360 boxes of pseudoephedrine
statewide, compared to 7,000 boxes last month, according to NPLEx sales data.

Total pseudoephedrine purchases at all West Virginia pharmacies
dropped 25 percent between March 2013 and last month - largely because
of Rite Aid's store policy change.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating Rite Aid
stores and their sales of pseudoephedrine.

Last year, the DEA's Tactical Diversion Unit requested scores of
records from the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy about Rite Aid sales
of the cold medication that can be used to make meth.

In 2012, a former Rite Aid pharmacist told a legislative committee
that the chain drugstore awarded bonuses to pharmacists in West
Virginia based on pseudoephedrine sales. Pharmacists also have alleged
that Rite Aid dedicated specific cash registers for sales of the cold
medicine. Rite Aid has denied the allegations.

Though Rite Aid pharmacies no longer stock Sudafed and other
single-ingredient pseudoephedrine products, the stores still sell cold
medications, such as Claritin-D, Mucinex-D and Allegra-D, which
combine pseudoephedrine with other ingredients. Meth makers don't
typically buy combination products because they include antihistamines
and pain relievers. They're also more expensive.

Rite Aid stores also now carry displays promoting tamper-resistant
pseudoephedrine products, such as Nexafed, that criminals can't easily
convert into meth.

Last year, West Virginia law enforcement agencies seized 530 meth labs
in West Virginia, a record number.

During this year's legislative session, the Senate passed a bill that
would require people to get a doctor's prescription before they could
buy medications containing pseudoephedrine. The House gutted the bill,
and the legislation died on the last night of the session.

Last week, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper vowed to do
"whatever it takes" to reduce meth labs and curb sales of medications
that fuel the clandestine labs. Police busted more than 150 labs in
Kanawha County last year.

"If I have to, I'll put a deputy's car in the parking lot of every one
of these stores," Carper said. "I'm fed up with it."

[image caption]

The CVS pharmacy in St. Albans is among West Virginia's top sellers of
pseudoephedrine, a cold medicine that is the key ingredient in making
methamphetamine. Sales at CVS stores around West Virginia have
skyrocketed in recent months.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D