EPHEDRINE SALES LIMITED AS OF WEDNESDAY

TOPEKA - Cold sufferers will find it a little more inconvenient to
obtain a box of Sudafed or Actifed tablets in Kansas after Wednesday.

That's when a new law limiting access to products like those
containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine goes into effect. Gov.
Kathleen Sebelius signed the bill Friday.

Currently, those over-the-counter medications can be purchased in
convenience stores and supermarkets. Under the new law, however, they
can only be purchased at pharmacies and, then, only from behind the
pharmacy counter.

The law is aimed at addicts who are illegally extracting ephedrine
from these tablets over a kitchen stove and producing methamphetamine,
a highly addictive and illegal drug.

A similar bill has passed the Missouri House and is under
consideration in the Senate.

Both measures are modeled after an Oklahoma law approved a year ago
that is credited with cutting in half the illegal meth production
there. Kansas and Missouri officials are hoping for a similar result.

Oklahoma allows consumers to purchase 300 pills or 9 grams a month.
The Kansas law allows three packages of tablets a week, equal to 9
grams a month. Lawmakers said that should be enough for people who
need it.

Exempt from the bill's regulations are cold remedies in liquid form
and gel caps. Law enforcement officials said they didn't pose a
problem because it was impossible for meth cooks to extract ephedrine
from those products without expensive, sophisticated equipment.