A BITTER PILL FOR METH MAKERS

Drug Companies Aim To Rid Goods Of Criminal Potential

Your stuffy nose might not notice the difference between a methyl and
hydroxyl group when it comes to what's in a cold pill.

But to a dope cooker converting decongestant pills into the potent drug
methamphetamine, it's all the difference between a valuable street drug and
worthless muck.

That, law enforcement officials say, could result in fewer drug labs in San
Joaquin County and elsewhere.

Pharmaceutical companies, pressured by federal and state governments, are
replacing pseudoephedrine -- the base chemical used in meth labs -- in many
sinus medicines. Congress is considering a bill, which is co-sponsored by
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, that would require all sales of
pseudoephedrine to be closely monitored.

Cold sufferers have long used pseudoephedrine in products such as Sudafed
to clear their nasal passages, but more and more will find over-the-counter
medicines containing phenylephrine, a substitute chemical that will
frustrate meth cookers.

"It's very related in a pharmacological sense, but in terms of chemical
conversion, it won't work," said David Fries, a professor at University of
the Pacific's pharmacy school. "You won't come up with methamphetamine. It
doesn't go into the brain quickly, and it's not abusable."

Sudafed-maker Pfizer is making a replacement medicine containing
phenylephrine, called Sudafed PE. Leiner Health Products, which makes
store-brand cold pills for retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart, also is
reformulating some cold pills with phenylephrine so they can remain on
store shelves instead of being moved behind counters.

Leiner spokeswoman Crystal Wright said cold sufferers may not like having
reduced access to a proven product. About 4,200 medicines contain
pseudoephedrine, she said.

"We need to strike a balance between access to the legitimate consumer and
the criminal," she said.

Kent Yep, pharmacy manager at Longs Drugs on Quail Lakes Drive, said he's
glad store officials decided to move pseudoephedrine behind the counter
several months ago. Yep, however, said he'd like to see it eliminated
altogether.

"There was a big shoplifting problem because we're a 24-hour store," Yep
said. "You go up in the morning where the Sudafed is, and it's all wiped
out. But that's minor compared to the epidemic of people addicted to
methamphetamine."

Even those measures, authorities said, aren't expected to eliminate toxic
drug labs or even put a dent in the supply of methamphetamine. The vast
majority of methamphetamine is made by what law enforcement officials call
"super labs." These high-volume laboratories mostly in Mexico and
California are typically operated by Mexican criminal organizations,
according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Sgt. Dave Seawell, who heads the investigations division for the Calaveras
County Sheriff's Office, said 25 trash bags found in February along a road
near Valley Springs were likely the remnants of a large lab.

But Seawell and other officials said they hope newer, stricter controls and
the change in cold formulas will discourage the small manufacturer from
making methamphetamine in kitchens, closets or even the trunks of cars, and
dumping their hazardous waste alongside rural roads, on farms or in Delta
waterways.

"On the smaller, the 'Beavis-and-Butthead' labs, where they do them in a
coffee pot with some soda bottles, there will be fewer of those," Seawell
said. "It's encouraging to see the private sector doing something about it."

Drug lab residue isn't only left in trash dumps or discharged down sewers.
A state study found that methamphetamine residue from labs could be
detected on walls and floors, where it could come into contact with
children and pets, and that the residue stained wallboard and other
materials with its acidic properties.

The manager of a north Lodi apartment complex said a lab found in an
apartment last year kept her from renting it out for 10 months. Part of the
problem was that city officials weren't sure how clean an apartment needed
to be, said the manager, Margaret, who wouldn't provide her last name. An
Assembly bill working its way through the state Legislature creates
standards for meth lab cleanups.

Doug Wilson, a supervisor for San Joaquin County's environmental health
division, said his department was called by the Sheriff's Office 14 times
last year to oversee cleanup at residential meth labs. They've responded
eight times this year.

Lodi police Detective Dale Eubanks said he hopes the new formula will
reduce the number of small labs his department has uncovered, including a
recent find where 99 pounds of pseudoephedrine pills were confiscated.

But he expects cookers will adapt to their new obstacle.

"Where there's a will, there's a way," he said.

Professor Fries agreed, saying limiting access to pseudoephedrine and
reformulating cold medicines will "slow things a bit for a while." But dope
cookers will find another way, he predicted.

"There's money in it," Fries said. "There are more sophisticated ways to
make methamphetamine from other, not too chemically different, available
materials."