WALGREEN SETTLEMENT ILLUSTRATES TOUGH METH LAWS MUST BE FOLLOWED

The $1.3 million settlement between various law enforcement agencies and
Walgreen Co. looks to us to be a good way to bring this issue to a close.

The settlement between Walgreen and investigators closes the case on
possible violations by Walgreens pharmacies of a state law restricting
sales of over-the-counter cold pills containing pseudoephedrine, which can
be used to make methamphetamine.

Enid Police Department and Garfield County District Attorney's Office are
two beneficiaries of the settlement. They will split $333,333. Walgreen
will pay the remainder to several agencies, also including Oklahoma Bureau
of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control and U.S. Attorneys for Northern,
Eastern and Western districts of Oklahoma, as well as the Eastern District
of Texas.

State law requires pharmacies monitor sales of cold pills containing
pseudoephedrine and limit the supply consumers may purchase to 9 grams in
30 days.

Problems were discovered after an EPD patrolman began using pharmacy
logbooks for tracking cold pill sales while investigating methamphetamine
producers.

After some of the cold medicine bearing the Walgreens label wound up in a
meth lab busted in Enid, officials with Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs said Enid's Walgreens pharmacy accounted for 97 percent of
the city's illegal pseudoephedrine sales.

The settlement did not require Walgreen to acknowledge any wrongdoing.

Walgreen officials have said previously, however, they used improper
information on pseudoephedrine restrictions to train employees on
Oklahoma's law, which is one of the toughest in the country and has been
used as a model for other states and the federal government.

In addition to the $1.3 million, Walgreen will spend another $1 million on
a system to monitor purchases of the medicine.

The settlement shows Walgreen paid a steep price for failing to make sure
its pharmacies were using correct information in their training.

It also sends a message to other businesses that compliance with state law
will be enforced.

In short, the word is: Conduct business properly, or there will be
consequences.