CHANGES TAKE EFFECT FOR SALES OF CERTAIN DECONGESTANTS

El Campo's pharmacies have made the changes needed to comply with a new
state law that alters how consumers buy some decongestants.

The law, which requires that solid forms of medicines containing
pseudoephedrine or ephedrine be displayed in locked cabinets or placed
behind sales counters, took effect yesterday.

The law also limits the amount of these products that can be sold to a
customer in a single purchase, and requires that buyers be 16 or older and
show photo I.D. when purchasing the products. Retailers must have a
temporary certificate of authority from the Texas Department of State
Health Services to sell the products and must keep a signed log of purchases.

Examples of solid-form products to which the law applies include Tylenol
Sinus, Sudafed, Claritin-D, Advil Sinus, Alka-Seltzer Cold, Coricidin Cough
& Cold and Dristan Sinus. Solid forms of products containing
pseudoephedrine or ephedrine can be used to illegally make methamphetamine,
or speed, a powerful stimulant. Solid forms include tablets, caplets and
powders. The restrictions do not apply to liquid or gel forms of the
products but do apply to gel-coated tablets and caplets.

"We've got it all put in the back here," said Don Ammann, pharmacist at
Professional Pharmacy in El Campo. "We don't have our log book yet, but we
ordered one from the state and it will be here shortly."

Pharmacist Mike Buss at El Campo Pharmacy said that store has also removed
the products from public access, and is ready to comply with the law.

"There shouldn't be any difficulty for our customers," Buss said. "All they
have to do is sign a log book, and they have to have a driver's license."

Cecil Davis of H.E.B. Pharmacy said the new law makes things somewhat more
difficult for people who need decongestants.

"Sudafed is an excellent, excellent decongestant, and helps a lot of
people," Davis said. "It will make it tougher on your legitimate allergy
suffers they now have to go to the pharmacist and ask for it. Before,
they could pick it up off the shelf and throw it in with their groceries.
But it's still available, and that's what matters."

While none of the three pharmacists had ever noted sales of suspiciously
large quantities of decongestants at their stores, all agreed the new law
should help stop the proliferation of methamphetamine labs.

"I think it will have an effect, I think it will be a good thing," Amman
said. "I think it will help, because some of those people making that stuff
don't want to be identified. In other states, too, it has cut down on the
number of meth labs, and I'm glad. Anything we can do to help to reduce the
meth labs, I'm for it. I do think it will work. It won't stop it
completely, but it will help."

Davis of H.E.B. said other states with similar laws have already noticed
positive effects.

"The top state for meth labs -- it wasn't us -- they are already better off
because of this," Davis said. "The law certainly will let us track anybody
who's getting more than they should. From what I've read, meth has really
become a problem, almost up there with crack. So I think this will make a
difference, because before, it was so accessible -- you could get it anywhere."

Davis and Ammann both noted that similar measures have been used in the
past when over-the-counter drugs were being abused, but in those cases, the
drugs were converted to prescription-only status.

"When I first was practicing, you could buy cough medicine with codeine in
it, you could buy Paregoric, which had an opiate in it," Davis recalled.
"That went out when the speed limit changed in the early '70s -- I remember
it well."