PHARMACISTS SAY EPHEDRINE LAW CAUSING FEW PROBLEMS

HELENA - Montana pharmacists are reporting few problems and law
enforcement officials fewer meth labs since a law went on the books
in July that limits the amount of cold medicine people may buy
containing methamphetamine's raw material.

"So far, so good," said Jeanette Cooksey, a pharmacy technician at
Driscoll Drug in Butte. "People aren't overly thrilled about having
to show ID, but it hasn't been a big deal."

Since the law went into effect, law enforcement officers have busted
just two meth labs, said Mike Batista, administrator of the
Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation. Before
that, 15 labs had been busted since the beginning of the year.

"Certainly, these lab numbers are encouraging," he said. "If we get
the smaller labs under control in this state, there's more time to
devote to the bulk (pseudoephedrine) purchases that the super labs use."

The law limits to 9 grams the amount of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine
products Montanans may buy in any 30-day period. Pseudo-ephedrine is
a nasal decongestant found in Sudafed and medicines like it.
Ephedrine is a stimulant sometimes sold in vitamin and health food
stores for weight loss or as an energy booster.

The law's most visible change is that cold medicines containing
pseudoephedrine can no longer be sold in the grocery aisle. Instead,
the medicines must now be displayed behind a pharmacist's counter.
People must show identification before they can buy any and
pharmacists must keep track of who buys the products, when and how
much they bought.

"It's a little bit more work for us," said Eric Beyer, the pharmacy
manager at Eastgate Drug in Missoula. "People have been very
understanding. Most people say if it's going to help, then it's worth it."

Meth cookers make methamphetamine by changing the chemical make-up of
ephedrine or pseudoephedrine by mixing cold pills with any number of
legal chemicals like hydrochloric acid and red phosphorous.

Montana is one of 37 states with laws that restrict the sale of those
cold medications in an effort to starve the meth manufacturers of
their key ingredient. The U.S. Senate last month approved a bill that
would have required restrictions similar to those in Montana
throughout the nation.

Batista said he didn't think the law had necessarily reduced the
amount of meth in Montana. Dealers also import the drug into Montana
and officers are starting to see distribution staging areas moving
closer to the state "We see more groups staging in the Spokane area
than we've ever seen before," he said.

With the hunt for meth labs in the state petering out, the state
intends to send investigators to neighboring Canadian provinces,
Spokane and other areas on the meth trail to Montana to fight the
drug there. Batista also said public awareness campaigns, such as a
privately funded series of television and radio ads, may actually cut
down on the demand for the drug.

A dedicated meth cooker could out-maneuver the law, but Batista said
many cookers are also users and they may not have the dedication to
go from store to store accumulating cold pills one package at a time.

"You're on a drug that does not provide patience," he said.

The law puts pharmacists on the front lines. But none contacted for
this story found the paperwork especially burdensome. In fact, some
pharmacies embedded in larger grocery stores say the law may actually
have helped them.

"It definitely hasn't hurt our sales," said Beyer, whose pharmacy is
inside a larger Albertson's grocery store. Before the law passed,
people suffering from colds and flu would never have come to the
pharmacy as they could buy medicine in the grocery store.

Pfizer, the makers of Sudafed, have now come out with a new cold
medicine that doesn't contain pseudoephedrine, specifically in
response to meth and the laws limiting Sudafed sales, according to
the company's Web site. The formula, which contains phenylephrine and
cannot be used to make meth, allows the medicine to be sold in a
grocery store with no restrictions.