ARNOLD HOPES ITS ANTI-METH LAW WILL BE A MODEL FOR OTHER CITIES

New Measure Restricts Sale Of Drug's Key Ingredient

Arnold officials tout new anti-drug measure

Arnold leaders are hoping local governments throughout Missouri follow the
lead of Jefferson County's largest city and pass laws that further restrict
the sale of pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in many cold medicines
that also can be used to make methamphetamine.

Last week the City Council approved the state's toughest law restricting
the sale of pseudoephedrine. The ordinance will force stores selling cold
pills to keep a record of all customers who buy more than one box of the
medicine at a time. Stores must keep pseudoephedrine-sales records for at
least six months and let police inspect them on demand.

Area retailers and an industry group representing the pseudoephedrine
manufacturers oppose the law. But the councilman who wrote it says he will
push other cities to follow Arnold's lead.

"It takes intestinal fortitude to venture into uncharted territory,"
Councilman Phil Amato, 3rd Ward, told fellow council members in a short
speech before a vote on the measure. "But we have to start someplace," he said.

Amato said that, in the short term, the measure will inconvenience meth
cooks but that the legislation could have a significant impact if other
cities enact similar ordinances.

Jefferson County is third only to southwest Missouri's Jasper County and
nearby Franklin County in the number of drug labs, ingredient caches and
meth-related dumps discovered by police in 2002, according to statewide
crime statistics released earlier this month. Missouri continues to lead
the nation in the number of meth labs discovered.

An earlier version of the measure was shelved by the council this month
because it would have forced shoppers to provide retailers with personal
information, such as a Social Security or driver's license number.

Some council members feared that bill could have violated privacy rights
and been struck down by a court.

Under the new law, retail clerks must verify that shoppers are who they say
they are, though the ordinance does not require customers to show any
specific form of identification.

The measure was approved 7-1 Thursday and had the strong backing of Arnold
Mayor Mark Powell. Representatives of Schnucks, Wal-Mart and a
Washington-based industry group attended the council meeting and tried to
dissuade supporters of the measure.

"This law is anti-business, anti-consumer and anti-revenue for the city of
Arnold," said Nancy Bukar, a lobbyist with the Consumer Healthcare Products
Association, a trade group representing manufacturers and distributors of
over-the-counter medicines.

Bukar told the council that the bill "criminalizes what is a legal product"
and would force retailers to violate federal medical-privacy laws.

Robert Wiegert, director of government relations for Schnucks, said that
the ordinance would saddle retailers with law-enforcement duties.

"This is very intrusive for our customers and very intrusive for us as a
retailer," Wiegert said.

Julia Mense, pharmacy manager of the Arnold Wal-Mart, said that the
ordinance could mean extra duties for pharmacists that could make it more
likely they would mix medicines improperly.

"This is going to create a huge distraction," Mense said. "I don't think it
is going to create any solution."

Members of the council responded to Bukar and the retailers with scorn and
raised voices.

Councilman Michael Bonnot, 1st Ward, said the federal law cited by Bukar,
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, wouldn't have any
bearing on the anti-meth measure.

Amato said Bukar didn't seem to have read the bill. But Amato, who wrote
the bill, saved most of his ire for the representatives of Schnucks and
Wal-Mart. He said he was "ashamed of the retailers."

Councilman Dave Venable, 2nd Ward, said the meeting was the first one that
ever had angered him. "Those are the retailers who are supposed to care
about our city, and they care more about their revenues," he said.

"Uncharted territory"

State law limits the amount of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine
that customers can buy, and several cities, including Arnold and Festus,
have followed the lead of St. Peters, which last year forced the pills to
be stored behind counters, where they are more difficult to steal.

But no Missouri city has approved legislation that would demand that stores
keep a record of who buys cold pills. Some police say such legislation is
needed because meth cooks and their associates often must buy pills at
dozens of stores before they can get enough pseudoephedrine to make even a
small batch of meth.

Amato said cities needed to step forward and take a lead in Missouri's war
on meth.

"I want every town and the county government to stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with Arnold," Amato said. "Maybe the state capital will take notice, and
maybe Washington will take notice."

Amato said he planned to alert other area city councils of the new Arnold
law and advise them to follow suit. Powell said he would contact state
legislators and "ask them to move this forward on a state level."

Opponents of the measure, which will take effect April 15, said they would
study ways to comply with the law and try to convince council members to
reconsider their decision.