BILL WOULD PUT COLD MEDICINE BEHIND COUNTER LEGISLATION AIMS TO CURB
METHAMPHETAMINE PRODUCTION

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive and potent powder "cooked" from
common ingredients such as ammonia, lithium from car batteries and
pseudoephedrine. After snorting, eating or injecting the drug, users
experience rushes of energy and euphoria. The drug's effects can last for
hours.

Meth creates the potential for explosions and contamination because of the
combustible ingredients used to manufacture it.

A measure to fight methamphetamine production in Mississippi could cause
some confusion in pharmacies in the coming months, but retailers and law
enforcement officials say they support the general intent of the bill.

"It's an interesting bill, but it could mean just about every cough and
cold medicine on the market would be behind the counter," said Kim Rodgers,
owner and pharmacist at Rodgers Family Pharmacy in Petal.

Gov. Haley Barbour on Monday was sent a bill that would require retailers
to store cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine - a key ingredient used
to make the illicit drug - in locked display cases, behind the counter,
within 30 feet of a store cashier or under video surveillance.

Barbour has until Thursday to sign the bill into law.

Rodgers said upwards of 200 cold medications contain pseudoephedrine. Only
about 20, however, have the chemical in large quantities, he said.

"It's still kind of confusing right now," Rodgers said. "It could mean
requiring a tremendous amount of drugs to go behind the counter, but if
it's pseudoephedrine only, it won't be that bad."

Rep. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, said the bill does not specify drugs by
name or list a quantity of the chemical that would be sufficient to
manufacture the drug.

"The intent is clear that any drug with a sufficient dose to assist in the
manufacture of methamphetamine would be subject to these provisions,"
Fillingane said.

The representative said the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and other law
enforcement agencies should be able to set standards for what drugs are
consistent with the law.

Lamar County Sheriff Danny Rigel said any measures to deter the makers of
methamphetamine are welcome.

"I don't think it's going to bother or inconvenience the average citizen,"
he said. "But I'm for anything that would limit the manufacture of crystal
meth."

He also said keeping the cold medicines behind the counter will prevent thefts.

"There are already laws out there to make buying large quantities of this a
felony, so by keeping the drugs behind the counter we can also limit the
number of thefts of the drug," he said.

The bill is not as restrictive as initial legislation filed in the Senate,
which only allowed a pharmacist or pharmacist technician to sell cold
medicine containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.

That bill was patterned after an Oklahoma law.

The bill sent to the governor also limits the amount of the cold tablets
sold to a customer to no more than two packages per transaction or six
grams of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine.

A retailer who violates the law could face a misdemeanor charge. Retailers
caught making "backdoor sales" of the tablets by the caseload could face a
felony charge, said Sen. Sidney Albritton, R-Picayune.