RESTRICTED SALE OF COLD MEDICINES PROPOSED

If you have a cold or a sinus headache in Tennessee, you may no longer be
able to simply walk into a store, look over the wide selection of
decongestants and make your purchase.

You may have to ask a pharmacist to retrieve the drug from behind the
counter, then show your identification and have your name placed in a
registry that would alert law enforcement to possible patterns of misuse.
Because of widespread use of the cold drugs in the illegal manufacture of
the highly addictive substance methamphetamine, a state task force
recommended yesterday that stricter controls be placed on common
decongestants.

All medicines that can be used to make the drug also known as ''crank'' or
the ''poor man's cocaine'' should be taken off the aisle shelves of stores,
said the task force, which was assembled several months ago by Gov. Phil
Bredesen. Those medications would be moved behind the counter of licensed
pharmacies, under the recommendation of the 20-person task force and
12-person advisory group that included political officeholders, health-care
workers and people in the fields of criminal justice and law enforcement.
The group also recommended stiffer penalties for meth-related crimes and
suggested long-term residential care for those trying to break the hold of
the highly addictive substance that can be made relatively cheaply from
over-the-counter ingredients.

Additionally, the groups want funding for prevention education and help for
children exposed to fumes from meth labs.

Tennessee accounts for 75% of seized meth labs in the Southeast, according
to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and several in the task force
said meth is already an epidemic problem in the Cumberland Plateau and
Sequatchie Valley areas of rural Tennessee. It is, they said, creeping
toward more urban areas.

Bredesen praised the group for its practical suggestions and said he wanted
to study them more before proposing possible laws. No price tag was put on
any of the proposals.

While pulling drugs from shelves might create some hardship on retailers and
inconvenience some consumers, task force members said it is necessary to
stop the spread of the powerful stimulant.

''I've felt like I was going to die from a sinus headache, but I never
have,'' said Dr. Sullivan Smith, whose hometown of Cookeville is among the
places hardest hit by meth abuse. ''Methamphetamine is fueling crime. It's
disrupting families. It's killing citizens.'' Some pharmacists raised
concerns about the difficulties of moving as many as 300 varieties of cold
and sinus medications to behind the counter. Doug Wilson, a Rite Aid
pharmacist from Rockwood in Roane County, suggested pulling from shelves
only the products proven to be the choice of the illegal meth makers rather
than yanking all at once. But Wilson acknowledged the need for controls and
voted for the recommendations. The president of Tennessee Retail Association
said pharmacies only have limited space behind their counters.

''We have some concerns for our customers,'' said Russell Palk, whose group
represents the major pharmacies that fill 85% of prescriptions in the state.
''There has to be a delicate balance. We're looking forward to a nice
debate.'' The state legislature would have to approve any changes in the
law. The proposal to take drugs with the ingredients pseudoephedrine or
ephedrine (necessary ingredients in making meth) off the shelves is similar
to a law passed in Oklahoma earlier this year. More than 10 states have
placed restrictions on sales of decongestants.

Other proposals recommended by the task force, led by Agriculture
Commissioner Ken Givens, include keeping a registry of homes and apartments
where people made meth, so that owners or renters would be alerted to
possible environmental risks of living there, especially for children. In a
related move, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
recently issued standards for the cleanup and safe habitation of places once
used as meth labs.