ABOUT HALF OF STATE'S CONVENIENCE STORES FOLLOWING METH LAW

SPRINGFIELD - Compliance is improving, but about half the convenience
stores selling ephedrine and pseudoephedrine products are still not
obeying a law designed to crack down on illegal methamphetamine labs,
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan reported on Wednesday.

A statewide check by Madigan's office and the state police, conducted
Oct. 10-19, found 49 percent of convenience stores selling ephedrine
and pseudoephedrine products were fully compliant with the law, up
from 12 percent during a similar check last spring. Advertisement

Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are active ingredients in dozens of
nonprescription cold medicines, as well as a key ingredient for
manufacturing meth. A state law that took effect on Jan. 15 requires
customers to show a photo ID, be at least 18 years old and sign a log
before purchasing any over-the-counter medications containing either
of those two chemicals. The new law also requires that cold medicines
containing any amount of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine be kept behind
pharmacy counters, and limits customers to no more than two packages
of cold medicine at a time.

Retailers without pharmacy counters are allowed to sell small
"convenience packs" of cold medicines, containing enough to treat an
adult for about a day and a half. Those small doses must be kept in
locked cabinets in stores, and the same log book and photo ID
requirements apply.

While compliance is still an issue, the new restrictions are having
an impact. Illinois State Police found 136 meth labs in July, August
and September of this year, compared to 257 labs during the same
period last year.

"The law is driving down not only the number of labs, but the size of
labs," said Master Sgt. Bruce Liebe from the Illinois State Police
Methamphetamine Program Office.

Liebe said that before the new law, the average home meth cook was
producing about an ounce of meth, which required 500 to 1,000 cold
pills to make. At recent lab seizures, manufacturers were found with
only a single box of cold medicine, which produces "a much smaller
quantity" of meth, he said.

"By taking away the one thing meth makers need to concoct their
deadly brew, we've made it much more difficult for those criminals,"
Madigan stated in a written release. "As a result, every Illinois
resident is safer. While there is more work to be done, law
enforcement officials, retailers and members of the public should be
proud of their efforts to make these restrictions work."

State Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, a sponsor of the meth legislation,
said he was pleased with the results so far.

"I would like to see compliance at 100 percent, but it's better than
it was six months ago," he said. "I'm excited to hear that this is
trending the right direction."

The first statewide check, in early May, found only nine out of 75
convenience stores that carried pseudoephedrine and ephedrine
products were displaying and selling them properly, while 260 out of
271 pharmacies were in compliance. The new study, which focused
exclusively on convenience stores, found that 286 of the 354 stores
checked did not carry any pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products at
all. Of the 68 stores that did carry such products, 35 did not comply
with at least some of the restrictions.

Of 34 locations checked in East Central Illinois, 28 did not carry
any ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, two sold the products in accordance
with the new state law, and four were noncompliant.

According to Madigan spokeswoman Cara Smith, one store in Champaign
and one in Urbana were found selling packages that were larger than
the "convenience pack" size limit of 360 milligrams and were stored
on open shelves, rather than behind the counter. Another store in
Westville had the products behind the counter, but was selling
packages in excess of the 360 milligram limit, she said. A fourth
store, in Decatur, did not keep the log or the required training
certificates, Smith said.

Violations of any part of the new law could trigger penalties for
customers, store employees and even the store itself, but no one was
cited in the recent sweep, Smith said.

"Our goal is to make them aware of the law and to encourage
compliance," she said. "None of these stores had previous violations
that we were aware of. If we are faced with retailers who are
willfully violating the law there will be a different approach."

Bill Fleischli, executive vice president of the Illinois Association
of Convenience Stores, said there has been some confusion about the
differences between the state law and a federal law that took effect
on Oct. 1, but he expected compliance to increase as retailers become
educated about their responsibilities.

"I think our members are training and doing everything that the law
states to do and we certainly want to do that to help get this drug
off the streets," he said.

As the crackdown on cold pills continues, state police are also on
the lookout for increased trafficking of meth and meth ingredients
across state lines.

"We're wary of that, but we haven't yet seen a large increase in that
regard," Liebe said.

Traffickers who do try it risk tougher penalties than in the past,
thanks to another new state law sponsored by Rose and state Sen. Bill
Haine, D-Alton. The governor signed that measure into law this summer.