RILEY SIGNS BILL LIMITING ACCESS TO COLD MEDICINE

MONTGOMERY -- Pharmacists say neither they nor their customers should have
problems with a new law Gov. Bob Riley signed Tuesday that limits access to
cold medicine that is illegally used to make methamphetamine.

The law's goal is to make meth ingredients ephedrine and pseudoephedrine
difficult to obtain in Alabama, where meth addiction is "ripping apart our
communities and small towns,'' Riley said.

"There is an epidemic going on in Alabama today, and it's a man-made
epidemic,'' Riley said. He signed the bill at a Capitol news conference
attended by bill sponsors and representatives of law enforcement agencies.

Audrey Cohenour, a registered pharmacist at the family owned Pay-Less
Pharmacy in downtown Florence, said the store keeps ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine behind a counter.

"I don't think it would cause any problems, and it probably should be put
behind the counter anyway,'' she said.

She said the dangers of meth production are well known because of media
exposure.

"It seems the public has a good understanding based on stories about meth
labs,'' she said.

The new law, effective July 1, will require retailers including grocery,
drug and convenience stores to keep all nonprescription cold and
decongestant tablets containing at least 30 mg of ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine as their sole ingredient behind a counter or locked in a
display cabinet.

Tablets in which ephedrine or pseudoephedrine are just one of several active
ingredients will have to be kept behind a counter under surveillance or in a
locked case.

Customers buying the over-the-counter drug will have to show identification,
sign for it and will be limited to two packages, or six grams, at a time.

Gel or liquid products will still be available because the ingredients
cannot be used to make meth.

Attorney General Troy King and the president of the Alabama District
Attorneys Association, Lee County District Attorney Nick Abbett, hailed the
new law.

"This quality act will make our children safer, make our communities
safer,'' King said.

"This will stop Alabama from being a dumping ground for meth,'' said Abbett.

The House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Frank McDaniel, D-Albertville, called
the bill a "major piece of legislation.''

"If this isn't strong enough, we're going to come back next year,'' McDaniel
said.

Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, a pharmacist by training who
sponsored the Senate version of the bill, said meth labs are not just a
problem in DeKalb County, where more than 100 busts have been reported.

"This is a cancer all over the state,'' Barron said.