DRUG WAR TARGETS COLD MEDICINE

Key Ingredient Could Be Used to Cook Up Methamphetamine

In an attempt to deter people from illegally manufacturing
methamphetamine, most major pharmacy chains are restricting the amount
of nonprescription cold medicine a customer can buy. Pseudoephedrine,
a decongestant found in Sudafed and hundreds of other cold remedies,
is a vital ingredient used to "cook" methamphetamine, a powerful
stimulant also known as "ice" or "crystal meth."

To make it harder for drug makers to obtain pseudoephedrine, the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration has asked retailers to limit
how much a customer can buy in a single purchase.

"Any kind of restriction is great," said Lt. Mark McGinnis of the Hall
County Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad. "I don't think the restriction
itself will cause someone to quit (making meth). But it makes it less
convenient for them, and it makes their actions more visible."

Every little bit helps, said McGinnis, because the meth problem has
spiraled out of control.

"Over the past three years, we've seen a tremendous increase in the
number of meth labs in Hall County," he said. "We went from one in
2000, to 13 in 2001, to 27 so far in 2002. And we've had two fires
this year caused by meth-lab explosions."

The situation is even worse in the West and Midwest, where
investigators are finding thousands of meth "kitchens" each year.

Congress tried to address the problem in 1996 by passing the
Methamphetamine Control Act. Under this law, retailers who sell more
than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine per purchase have to keep records and
send reports to the DEA.

Not wanting the hassle of more paperwork, pharmacy chains responded by
enacting new rules. Eckerd, which has 2,650 stores nationwide,
including five in Hall County, instituted a "No More Than Six" policy,
allowing customers up to six packages of cold medicine per purchase.

Other chains limit the total amount of pseudoephedrine rather than the
number of packages. Walgreens, with 3,954 stores in 43 states,
including one in Gainesville, allows just 6 grams at a time.

"It's a voluntary policy we started in ," said Walgreens spokeswoman
Carol Hively. "You're allowed however many packages add up to 6 grams.
Our registers are programmed to make that calculation
automatically."

Under the federal limit of 9 grams, a customer could buy 390 tablets
of 30-milligram-strength pseudoephedrine, but only 92 tablets of the
120-milligram-strength product.

At Wal-Mart, customers can buy three packages or 9 grams, whichever
limit is exceeded first.

"There's a prompt on the cash register that tells the cashier that
further sales are prohibited," said Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams.

Wal-Mart is the nation's largest discount retailer with 2,800 stores,
including one in Gainesville. The chain put its pseudoephedrine policy
in place even before the federal rule went into effect.

"We've been pretty aggressive about it," Williams said. "A lot of our
stores are in rural areas, and those are usually the places where meth
is manufactured."

Hively acknowledged that the policy isn't perfect, because it only
applies to single transactions. "There wouldn't be any way to keep the
same person from coming back later and buying more (packages)," she
said.

But store workers are trained to watch for odd behavior, such as a
customer who comes in to buy cold medicine every day.

"We do work with police about suspicious people in our stores," Hively
said. "We have taken down license numbers and had people apprehended
in our parking lots."

The federal rule also applies, in theory, to independent pharmacies.
But small drugstores do most of their business in prescriptions, not
over-the-counter medicines.

"We don't have a problem with (people trying to buy pseudoephedrine),
because we don't keep a whole lot of those products on the shelf,"
said Laird Miller, co-owner of Medical Park Pharmacy in
Gainesville.

Phil Price, special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation's regional drug enforcement office in Gainesville,
thinks the federal regulation is a good start. But it puts all the
responsibility on the store rather than on the meth
manufacturer.

"In some states, it's a crime to purchase or possess more than a
certain amount of ephedrine," he said. "That's not true in Georgia."

Price also wants to see restrictions on other components of meth, such
as anhydrous ammonia. Drug criminals often steal this volatile
chemical from gas companies.

"Missouri, which has more meth labs than any other state, has made
theft of anhydrous ammonia a felony," he said. "We're looking to get a
law like that passed here. Anhydrous ammonia is a really dangerous
substance, and it's the main reason meth labs explode. We've had
officers injured by exposure to it this year."