ANTI-METH LAW 'BETTER ON PAPER'

State Acknowledges Not Checking Stores' Records On Purchases

AUSTIN - Eight months after legislators moved to crack down on
methamphetamine, state regulators haven't inspected a single pharmacy
or convenience store to check whether retailers are recording who
buys drugs that contain meth ingredients.

A tough new law was meant to track repeat buyers of over-the-counter
drugs containing pseudoephedrine, which are used to make meth.
Lawmakers said they believed that meth cooks would stop buying
precursor drugs such as Sudafed if they had to show identification.

But the logs are handwritten, making a systematic check of buyers
across a region impossible. And state regulators, such as those from
the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, acknowledge that they haven't
checked handwritten logs, which are piling up in pharmacies across the state.

"It is one of those things that probably sounded better on paper than
it does in action," said Jim Martin, executive director of the Texas
Pharmacy Association. "I am not even sure who is regulating or
inspecting the thing."

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Results Karen Tannert, chief pharmacist for the Department of State
Health Services, said health inspectors would begin examining the
logs once the agency approves its rules for enforcing the law.

"We just have not gotten that far," said "This is a brand new
program. When you start at the bottom floor, you have the build the program."

Under the law, customers with allergies or colds are forced to wait
at the pharmacy to get the drugs, can buy only limited quantities,
and must provide their names and driver's license numbers. Patricia
Cochran, a pharmacist at Highland Park Pharmacy, described the law as
a nuisance.

Some customers think she's kidding when she asks them for
information, she said.

"I had one guy from South Carolina, and he thought we were crazy
Texans," Ms. Cochran said. "I said, 'Well, leave it up to Texans to
do something like this.' "

An increasing number of states are passing similar restrictions, however.

At Nau's Enfield Drug in Austin, pharmacist Richard Stymans flipped
through a green book inked with customers' names and driver's license
numbers. Even as customers have gotten used to the practice - at
first, "it was like shooting the messenger," he said - inspectors
haven't checked them.

"They are just stacking up," Mr. Stymans said.

Some pharmacists said an electronic database of purchases would be more useful.

"We found there is so much that could go wrong with a paper log, both
in accuracy and in terms of maintaining it," said Kevin Gardner, a
spokesman for Wal-Mart, the only pharmacy known to keep electronic
records of purchases. "An electronic log makes for a faster
transaction for our customers and a more accurate database that law
enforcement can use."

Oklahoma, a hotbed of the meth trade, will launch a statewide
database this summer.

Although Texas has no immediate plans to abandon the paper trail,
Rep. Leo Berman, the lawmaker who wrote the tougher meth law, said he
has talked to a Kentucky company that offers software to track buyers
through data encoded on driver's licenses.

Texas law prohibits customers from buying more than two packages at a
time. A store cannot sell more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine -
about 300 pills - to a single customer during a 30-day period. The
USA Patriot Act, renewed this month by Congress, contains an
anti-methamphetamine provision that limits consumers to buying 120 pills a day.

Gay Dodson, executive director of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy,
said she believed that most pharmacies are complying with the law's
requirements. But by imposing the selling limits on retailers, the
law leaves the door open to people buying from multiple retailers.

"The way the Texas law is written, you could go in every day and
buy," Ms. Dodson said.

Police agencies, which pressed for the new regulations, said the logs
have been useful for their investigations.

A Department of Public Safety official said Wednesday that
investigators studied logs to show that one suspect bought multiple
packages of the drugs in pharmacies ranging from Marble Falls to
Georgetown. The DPS would not reveal any more about the case because
it is an active investigation, said Capt. John Cottle, narcotics
commander of DPS' Austin region.

"Where we've had reports of meth labs and responded to meth labs, we
start targeting those retailers or pharmacies in those areas and
start looking at those logs," Capt. Cottle said.

DEA officials said the majority of criminal cases against retailers
have involved convenience stores. Under Texas law, the stores must
have a certificate to sell products containing pseudoephedrine and
ephedrine, another decongestant that, in higher doses, can be abused
as a stimulant.

Like pharmacies, convenience stores have moved drugs containing
pseudoephedrine behind the counter. But many stores are selling the
drugs without a permit, and the agency responsible for monitoring
them hasn't inspected any stores.

Mr. Berman said he was frustrated by the delay in checking logs but
was told by state officials that rules to implement the law would be
final in May.

"They could not tell me why it takes eight months," the Tyler
Republican said. "But many things will change dramatically once the
rules are implemented."

At several convenience stores in Austin and Dallas, employees
admitted they do not keep the logs. They professed ignorance about
the new regulations and wondered aloud whether they were allowed to
sell the products.

At a Shell Food Mart in east Austin, a store supervisor said he would
stop selling cold and allergy medicine if he had to ask customers for
a driver's license.

"It's a convenience store - it's supposed to be convenient," Karim
Maredia said. "They don't want all that hassle."

Some pharmacists also view the regulations as irritating and
pointless because regulators are not checking them.

"The only reason they are doing it is to make the Legislature look
good," said a pharmacist at a Sav-On store in Austin who declined to
give her name because her employer did not authorize her to speak publicly.

But Mr. Stymans said he believes the law is making the state safer.
The log scared off some customers he suspected of wanting allergy
tablets to make meth, he said.

"We told them they'd need to show ID and sign their name," he said.
"We haven't seen them since."

Staff writer Scott Goldstein in Dallas contributed to this report.

E-mail dmichaels@dallasnews.com

ANTI-METH LAW Restrictions on pseudoephedrine sales:

Customers must show photo ID and sign for the purchase of drugs
containing pseudoephedrine.

Stores are prohibited from selling a customer more than two packages
of drugs in a single transaction.

Pharmacies may not sell more than 9 grams of medicine - 300
30-milligram tablets - to a single customer within a 30-day period.

Convenience stores must obtain certificates from the State Department
of Health Services to sell drugs that contain pseudoephedrine and
record the buyer's name and the number of his driver's license or
state ID card.

SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research