ST. PETERS CONSIDERS BILL TO PREVENT THEFT OF ITEMS USED IN METH

The Proposal Would Require Stores To Keep Some Products Behind The Counter

Methamphetamine cooks may soon find it more difficult in St. Peters to
obtain an essential ingredient used to create the drug.

A proposed ordinance would require stores to keep products containing
ephedrine and pseudoephedrine behind the counter to reduce theft of the
products. Such products include many allergy and cold medications such as
Sudafed and its generic equivalents.

Such theft has been a growing problem in the region, according to Sgt. Mike
Grawitch of the St. Charles County Regional Drug Task Force. Ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine products are typically used to treat allergies and the
common cold, but are also used to make meth.

"They're definitely being shoplifted on a regular basis," Grawitch said.
Meth producers "will have three or four people whose only job is to get the
pills for the cook. They pile in a vehicle and drive to different stores,
each of them buying the legal limit, and often stealing boxes as well."

Methamphetamine is a stimulant that often is called "the poor man's crack."
It can produce a euphoric feeling and is smoked, snorted, swallowed or
injected. The drug can be created rather easily in a matter of a few hours
using mostly household and legally obtained chemicals.

Meth has become a growing problem in Missouri. Last year, the state
reported breaking up 2,207 meth labs, up from 863 in 2000, and surpassing
California for the first time as the leader among states in lab seizures.

Law enforcement officials reported closing 271 meth labs in Illinois last year.

"This is a humongous problem," Grawitch said. "It's not just in St. Charles
County or St. Louis County or St. Louis. It's statewide."

State law currently restricts consumers from buying more than three
packages of an ephedrine product in a single transaction. The St. Peters
ordinance would prevent consumers from buying more than three packages in a
48-hour period.

St. Peters Mayor Tom Brown said he plans to take the proposed ordinance to
the local business community to get feedback.

Some St. Peters drugstore owners said they have already made efforts to
restrict the sale of ephedrine products. Michael Polsen, owner of Gasaway
Pharmacy in St. Peters, said he limits the sale of pseudoephedrine products
to two boxes per customer, even though the state allows three. He also
limits the number of boxes he keeps on the shelf.

"I think (the ordinance) is very wise," Polsen said. "We have other
products, such as syringes, that we keep behind the counter for similar
reasons."

Under the proposed ordinance, violators could be fined from $100 to $1,000
for each occurrence. Similar ordinances have been introduced in Bloomington
and Normal, Ill. and Tacoma, Wash.

Anhydrous ammonia is the only ingredient in meth that cannot be bought in a
supermarket. It is frequently stolen from farm co-ops and barns.

Often the "cooking" of ingredients makes a volatile mix. Explosions have
harmed meth cooks as well as police and fire protection officials.

Customer inconvenience is a small price to pay for the possibility of
limiting meth production, Grawitch said. "Anything we can do to cut back on
the accessibility of the stuff, without interfering with every man, woman
and child who has a cold, is worth it."