PHARMACISTS EYE COLD MEDICINE PURCHASES

Tablets Contain Ingredient Used to Make Meth

Pharmacies spotted a trend years ago and realized it had little to do
with an outbreak of stuffy noses.

The outbreak was much more sinister.

Cold medicine with pseudoephedrine was in demand for methamphetamine
production either in bulk purchases or by theft. Meth cookers get kids
to drive miles between North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and
Wisconsin to pick up ingredients.

"That's not unusual," said Margaret Schuett, adult chemical dependency
counselor at Northern Pines Mental Health Center in Little Falls.

The payoff comes in the meth itself, Schuett said. And that same
process works for those cooking meth on a smaller scale.

For area pharmacies, the added interest in the cold tablets was
gradual.

Elizabeth Holt, Walgreens store manager in Brainerd, said Walgreens
was one of a number of drug stores establishing a two-box limit on the
cold pills with pseudoephedrine. Walgreens made the policy to cover
all of its stores.

Empty cold pill packages were found in the store as a testament to
shoplifters.

In Brainerd, Holt said they made the decision to pull the cold pills
back to the pharmacy and put them behind the counter. Those decisions
are left to individual stores. Holt said they made the decision more
than a year ago and just one or two customers seeking to buy more than
two cold pill boxes have remarked on the change.

"I think it's mostly a theft problem," she said.

Ed Asker, pharmacist at Thrifty White Drug store in Brainerd, said the
store had posters from law enforcement on meth but became truly
informed about meth about three years ago when a staff member served
on a jury for a case that included a meth lab.

Thrifty White limits the cold pill purchases to two packages and keeps
them in the pharmacy. That change came last fall. Staff members also
have been active in helping law enforcement identify
shoplifters.

"We used to have people in here stealing them," Asker said of the cold
pills. "That was common practice, but it doesn't happen much anymore."

At the Medicine Shoppe in Brainerd there are no set limits on cold
pill purchases, but the staff is aware of the issue and pays attention
to purchases. The Medicine Shoppe pulled the 96-count pill boxes it
used to sell off the shelves.

Sudafed, one of the brand names of the cold pills, is now kept in a
front counter. Jason Heinricks, staff pharmacist, said it is difficult
for people to be anonymous in smaller stores.

On the other end of the scale, Wal-Mart in Baxter also has changed how
it sells cold pills. The discount store has an in-house pharmacy.

Kirk Helmberger, store manager, said the issue is a big one and store
officials noticed both excessive purchasing and shoplifting. The trend
was gradual, Helmberger said.

"I think we see fewer people purchase quantities of it and more people
steal it," he said.

Wal-Mart limits purchases to two cold pill packages. The store is in
the process of making sure aisles stocked with products used in meth
production are videotaped 24 hours a day. That trend would continue in
the proposed super center.

"We've been successful in getting information to law enforcement
that's been used to bust the labs," Helmberger said.

Cashiers are educated about products to watch for and a catalog of
products used in meth manufacturing is placed in staff lounges for all
employees.

Helmberger said more measures are going in the store to counteract
shoplifters.

"I think it's a pretty good-sized issue from what I've heard from law
enforcement," Helmberger said. "So that's why we changed some of the
things we did."

Residents can help in the fight on methamphetamine. Meth labs can be
identified by a chemical smell coming from the home. Typically there's
lots of traffic coming and going from a meth house at all hours and
there may be cameras on the outside of the residence.

Other signs of a meth lab may include denied access to a landlord or
other visitors; covered or blacked-out windows; and burn pits, stained
soil or dead vegetation indicating dumping of chemicals or waste.

Also, people may notice a combination of trash products, pits or piles
outside homes, such as packaging from over-the-counter ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine cold pills; empty containers of antifreeze, white gas,
ether, starting fluids, Freon, lye or drain openers, paint thinner,
acetone, or alcohol; compressed gas cylinders or camp stove fuel
containers; packaging from epsom salts or rock salt; anhydrous ammonia
tanks, propane tanks or coolers containing anhydrous ammonia; and
glass containers or other kitchen glassware with hoses or duct tape.

Anyone with information on a suspected meth labs is asked to contact
the Lakes Area Drug Investigative Division by calling the Crow Wing
County Sheriff's Department at (218) 829-4749 or by visiting the
LADID's Web site at http://www.co.crow-wing.mn.us/Sheriff/LADID/LADID.htm