SUDAFED'S MAKER ACTS TO CURB METHAMPHETAMINE PRODUCTION

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The maker of Sudafed is offering a new version of the
cold and allergy medicine without an ingredient often used to produce the
illegal and highly addictive drug methamphetamine in homemade labs.

Pseudophedrine will be replaced with another substance in a new product
called Sudafed PE, which will become available Jan. 10 in the United
States, Pfizer Inc. spokeswoman Erica Johnson said Wednesday. Pfizer will
continue to offer the old Sudafed, too.

Johnson said the new formula will make it easier for consumers to buy the
medication and could help curtail meth production.

Minnesota has been one of many states hard hit by meth addiction, which has
been blamed for everything from prison overcrowding to strains on social
services.

One city, Austin, has passed a law limiting Sudafed purchases to two
packages at a time and only by people at least 18 years old. The law
extends to other medications containing ephedrine and other chemicals that
can be used in meth production.

In the southern Minnesota city, merchants must place the medications behind
a checkout counter or inside a locked display case to discourage
shoplifters. Gov. Tim Pawlenty is pushing for a state law limiting access
to over-the-counter drugs with meth components.

Many other states already require pharmacists to keep Sudafed and other
cold medicines used to make meth behind a counter. Oklahoma requires that
such medications be distributed by a pharmacist, a step also being
considered in Indiana and other states hit hard by the drug epidemic.

"It's a matter of striking a balance between giving access to legitimate
consumers of the medicine and preventing criminals from getting hold of the
product to convert it to methamphetamine," Johnson said.

Johnson said the new formula has been sold for years in Europe and has
proved as effective as traditional Sudafed.

"Anything anybody can do to reduce the use of pseudophedrine to make meth
is a good thing," said Eric Lawrence, program manager for an Indiana State
Police unit that searches for clandestine drug laboratories.

Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported that more than
7,000 meth labs were dismantled nationwide.

The drug, a stimulant that can be injected, smoked or swallowed, has grown
in popularity in recent years as its use and production have spread from
the South and Southwest. It is most prevalent in California and the Midwest.

Indiana State Police expect to have dismantled 1,500 meth labs by the end
of the year, up from 1,260 last year and just 27 in 1998.

Jim Braum, a pharmacist at the Oak Hill Pharmacy in Evansville who keeps
Sudafed and other cold medicines containing pseudophedrine behind the
counter, said he doubts the new Sudafed formula alone will curb meth
production.

"The other pseudophedrine will still be out there," Braum said.