COLD MEDS MOVING BEHIND COUNTER

New Regulations Target Crystal Meth Makers

COLD medication containing pseudoephedrine will soon be kept behind the
counter to prevent it from being used to make the addictive street drug
crystal methamphetamine, the province said yesterday.

Seventeen products, from Sudafed Decongestant to Benylin D for Infants,
will be removed from store shelves by retailers as of Jan. 15, Healthy
Living Minister Theresa Oswald said.

New regulation

The province and Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association will tell retailers
and pharmacists of the new regulation by letter in the coming days.

Oswald said the change means some people might be delayed buying cold
relief, but added not all cold medication will disappear off shelves.
Consumers will also be restricted to single purchases of 3,600 mg of the 17
pseudoephedrine products.

MPA president Gary Cavanagh said a benefit of the new rule is that cold
sufferers will have to speak to a pharmacist before buying any medication.

"This is certainly one way of slowing down pseudoephedrine movement into
illegal realms," Cavanagh said.

Law enforcement and industry spokesmen also welcomed the new restrictions,
but added it won't eliminate methamphetamine use.

"This is excellent," said Cpl. Marc Samson, the RCMP's drug awareness
officer. "This will keep down the addiction-based labs."

Police have said addicts buy or steal cold remedies containing
pseudoephedrine to make small amounts of methamphetamine, a potent drug
that's afflicted the western provinces and is now making its way east
through Manitoba.

Saskatchewan and Alberta have already restricted over-the-counter sales of
pseudoephedrine-based products. Ontario is considering it. British Columbia
puts more focus on monitoring the bulk sale of chemicals used to make meth.

More than two dozen American states, including North Dakota, also restrict
over-the-counter sales. They report a marked decline in the number of
so-called "mom and pop" labs being discovered by police.

Gerry Harrington, spokesman for the National Drug Manufacturers Association
of Canada and the country's retail Meth Watch program, said restricting
sales may not have much of an impact as the drug market here is different
than in the U.S. "There is more meth than users right now in Canada," he
said. "These guys are flooding the market with a cheaper product than ever
before."

Samson also said the province's move won't have an impact on larger
so-called super labs in Canada that get meth ingredients in bulk on the
black-market. These labs are mostly in B.C. and Alberta and largely run by
outlaw motorcycle gang members and Asian-based crime groups.