WAR ON METH MAY LOCK UP COLD MEDS

State's Push To Curb 'Horrible Addiction' May Affect All Who Buy Popular
Pemedies

North Carolina's fight against the outlawed drug methamphetamine has
come to this: Starting next year, you might have to go to a pharmacist
to get ordinary cold pills. No more self-serve Sudafed in the aisles
of your nearby grocery or convenience store. Maybe no Comtrex,
Theraflu or Alka-Seltzer Plus, either. Under proposed legislation
moving through the General Assembly, the state would restrict the sale
of cold medicines with the common decongestant pseudoephedrine, a key
ingredient in the meth -- as it's usually called -- cooked up in
houses and hideouts across the state.

To get it, you'd have to show a photo ID and be at least 18. You'd
also have to sign your name and address on a form showing what and how
much you bought. And you'd be videotaped. The idea is to keep
meth-makers from buying the key ingredient for the highly addictive
drug in bulk. Lawmakers trying to balance crime-fighting with consumer
access concede there's a cost to be paid by law-abiding citizens
suffering from a cold or the flu. "It's a little inconvenient to the
public to have to go to a druggist to get this medicine," said Rep.
Leo Daughtry, a Smithfield Republican. "But it will stop the spread of
this horrible addiction." Meth is an illegal stimulant that can cause
paranoia, violence and fierce addiction in its users.

Producing it from pseudoephedrine (pronounced "soo doe eh FED rin")
and other common ingredients can generate dangerous fumes and cause
deadly explosions. So far this year, the State Bureau of Investigation
reports finding more than 200 secret meth labs. Law-enforcement
authorities say meth is surging across the state, including in
Johnston County, which Daughtry represents. "It is a nightmare," he
said during a House committee debate this week on the regulations. "It
is so much worse than cocaine." But fighting meth might give consumers
other headaches. "I wouldn't go for it," said Sherrill Johnson, 81, of
Raleigh, who shopped Thursday at a Food Lion grocery off Falls of the
Neuse Road. "I can't say that it's a bad idea, but I don't see how
it's going to help much. Folks are going to make bad out of good
anyway." Other shoppers support it. "They should put it behind the
counter so kids can't get it," said Robin Street, 32, a Raleigh mom
with three young daughters.

But she wants cold medicines to remain available at groceries. Retired
Raleigh salesman Mike Boughton, 65, said the proposal sounds a bit
heavy handed. "It sounds a little 'Big Brother,' " Boughton said.
"It's terrible that it's come to this. "If it's really widespread, I
guess access has to be limited.

But I question limiting it to certain stores." That issue is at the
center of the debate in the legislature. So far, the state Senate has
already approved legislation with the tougher restrictions. A House
judiciary committee rewrote the Senate bill and its version now goes
before the full House. The House version would regulate not only solid
pills of pseudoephedrine -- the kind the SBI says meth makers use here
- -- but also gel caps and liquid cold remedies that mix pseudoephedrine
with other drugs.

All of those would be available, however, under tighter controls at
counters in groceries and other stores, not just at drugstore
pharmacies. The Senate version, by contrast, would limit the
distribution of straight pseudoephedrine to pharmacy counters, while
leaving gel caps and liquids available in other stores as they are
now. Some House members resist limiting the decongestant to
pharmacies, because many rural areas don't have one. "I think it would
cause a hardship on a lot of consumers," said Rep. Earline Parmon, a
Winston-Salem Democrat. State Attorney General Roy Cooper, who favors
the Senate's approach, says it's most important to restrict straight
pseudoephedrine to pharmacies, where its purchase can be most closely
monitored. The House proposal, he said, would give criminals access to
meth ingredients at thousands of convenience stores and groceries
across North Carolina. "Law enforcement will struggle to keep track of
sales, and meth makers will face a detour rather than a roadblock,"
Cooper said. "The key to stopping this scourge is limiting access to
the main ingredient. We know that other states have only succeeded in
cutting the spread of these deadly labs when they put the main
ingredient behind a pharmacy counter." The proposed law includes other
restrictions and penalties: * Customers could buy no more than two
packs of cold medicine at a time, or three in a month, except with a
prescription. Purposely buying more than that would be a crime. *
Store clerks would be trained to follow the regulations, and could be
prosecuted if they don't. * Meth makers and addicts arrested would
have a tougher time posting bail to get out of jail. * Drug
manufacturers could petition the state for an exemption if they could
prove that their product isn't used to make meth. A state task force
would monitor the abuse of meth and the regulation of drugs that form
it. The details of the bill are likely to change before it becomes
law, backers in the House and Senate said. But come the first of the
year, they say, buying the drugs that make meth -- and treat colds --
won't be easy. Or anonymous. One lawmaker, Republican Rep. Joe Kiser
of Vale, a retired sheriff, warned his colleagues not to celebrate
their effort too much. "Let's not kid ourselves," Kiser said. "We're
going to cut down on the number of meth labs. But the problem of meth
will not go away. This doesn't do anything to address the addict's
problem."

METH BILL

The state House would treat all forms of medicine containing
pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine, the same. The
Senate would treat pills different from gel caps or liquid. HOUSE
APPROACH You could buy limited amounts of any cold medicine with the
decongestant pseudoephedrine at any store.

But they would be kept in a locked container and sold from behind a
designated counter.

This covers straight pseudoephedrine as well as gel caps and liquid
formulas that include other drugs. SENATE APPROACH You could buy
limited amounts of combination cold medicines, including gel caps and
liquid remedies, at any store.

But you could buy straight pseudoephedrine pills, the kind commonly
used to make meth, only at pharmacy counters.

UNDERSTANDING 'METH'

WHAT IT IS: Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant drug that
strongly activates certain systems in the brain.

Methamphetamine has a high potential for abuse and addiction.

It can be made with easy-to-get ingredients, such as cold medicine,
cat litter, rock salt and coffee filters. WHAT IT'S CALLED: Street
meth is frequently referred to as "speed" and "chalk." Methamphetamine
hydrochloride, clear chunks of crystals resembling ice, which can be
inhaled by smoking, is referred to as "ice," "crystal," "glass" and
"tina." HOW IT'S USED: Meth can be taken orally, snorted as a powder,
injected or smoked. The user at first experiences an intense and
pleasurable sensation for a few minutes. EFFECTS: The drug is highly
addictive.

Effects can include irritability, insomnia, confusion, tremors,
convulsions, anxiety, paranoia and aggressiveness. Methamphetamine
causes increased heart rate and blood pressure and can cause
irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain, producing strokes.

SOURCE: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE WEB SITE, WWW.NIDA.NIH.GOV