BATTLING METH MAY AFFECT COLD SUFFERERS

Indiana Takes Aim at Pseudoephedrine

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - A proposal to help authorities crack down on the
illegal methamphetamine trade by restricting access to
over-the-counter medications could mean longer waits for cold
medicines at Indiana pharmacies.

People suffering from the common cold can currently buy medicines
containing pseudoephedrine, an essential ingredient of meth, over the
counter at pharmacies and most supermarkets.

But a state task force has proposed tight restrictions that would
require customers to go to the pharmacist's window, sign their names
in a log book and present valid picture IDs before getting the
sniffle-relieving medicine.

The number of packages each customer could buy in a month also might
be restricted.

The task force's recommendations are modeled on a new state law in
Oklahoma, where decongestants such as Sudafed still are purchased
without a prescription but must be displayed behind the pharmacy
counter. Customers have to show ID and sign a log book.

Since the law was passed in April, Oklahoma meth labs have dropped
from an average 103 found per month to 65 per month, according to
published reports.

In Kentucky, state Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, introduced a bill
during the 2004 legislative session that would have required that
pseudoephedrine be sold in Kentucky only by a pharmacist or an
employee under direct supervision of a pharmacist, and only be
displayed behind the counter. The bill never made it out of committee.

Indiana Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon, said such
inconveniences are necessary to curb meth manufacturing and its
resulting social and financial costs.

"Without pseudoephedrine, you're not going to end up with the final
product of meth," Van Haaften told the Evansville Courier & Press. "If
you restrict that, the end product is going to be reduced."

Van Haaften served on the 25-member Methamphetamine Abuse Task Force,
which issued a report two weeks ago recommending that the Indiana
General Assembly change several state laws and restrict retail access
to pseudoephedrine. Meth is a highly addictive illegal stimulant
brewed in crude home labs using pseudoephedrine, as well as anhydrous
ammonia stolen from farms. Police said meth-cookers might visit one
retail store after another to obtain as many pseudoephedrine tablets
as they can.

Many drugstores already take voluntary steps to deter meth cookers,
such as stocking cold pills behind the counter instead of on the shelf.

But some retailers told the task force they are concerned about
passing laws that regulate their shelf space or place more burdens on
pharmacists, Van Haaften said.

"My concern is we're deterring people from getting a medication that
if used properly, there's no problem. It's just a certain segment of
our society that tends to abuse it," said pharmacist Brian Perry of
Paul's Pharmacy in Evansville.

At the advice of Indiana State Police, Paul's Pharmacy stopped
stocking pseudoephedrine products on the shelf.

Perry wonders how the proposed law would apply in a large 24-hour
retail outlet where the pharmacy might be closed after 9 p.m., and the
decision might fall to a minimum-wage clerk, not a pharmacist.

He also noted the risk staff could face from addicts who demand
pseudoephedrine and might resort to robbery.