N.C. SEEKS HELP IN METH FIGHT

Stores Would Limit Sales Of Cold Medicine Under Statewide Initiative

RALEIGH - Attorney General Roy Cooper's statewide campaign to fight the
spread of methamphetamine labs could change the way North Carolinians shop
for cold medicine.

North Carolina is moving to join a growing number of states cracking down
on meth dealers by limiting sales of cold tablets, putting them behind
counters or training store clerks to spot suspicious shoppers and report
them to the police.

Drug dealers buy over-the-counter cold remedies, nasal decongestants and
asthma medicines for their active ingredients, ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine. A 48-tablet pack of Sudafed yields methamphetamine worth
about $72 on the street, according to police.

States with acute methamphetamine problems, such as Missouri and
California, limit purchasers to two or three packs. Several other states
have programs encouraging retailers to limit purchases voluntarily.

In North Carolina, some drug and grocery stores voluntarily limit purchases
to three packs in keeping with guidelines from the Drug Enforcement
Administration. But other stores don't, prompting Cooper to organize a
statewide initiative to train retailers to limit access and to watch for
suspicious consumers.

Details aren't expected until spring, but the plan would be modeled on the
federally funded Meth Watch in Kansas, said Fran Preston, president of the
N.C. Retail Merchants Association and a member of the committee organizing
the plan and seeking funding.

The program would provide stores with training videos and break-room
posters instructing employees to watch for customers who load up on cold
pills or act suspiciously in the aisles, she said.

The program also would give store employees "a process by which they notify
law enforcement," she said.

To alert honest customers that they're being watched and to intimidate meth
makers, the Kansas program supplies stores with Meth Watch decals that
retailers hang on their shelves.

Store employees also keep an eye on 21 other products that meth dealers
use, from brake cleaner and coffee filters to lithium batteries and Heet
gasoline additives. A shopper buying some of those products in combination
can raise suspicion, said T.J. Ciaffone, a manager of the Kansas Meth Watch
program.

"If you're going to buy just batteries, I don't think you're going to get
anybody looking at you suspiciously," Ciaffone said. "But let's say I
bought a pack of batteries, three bottles of Heet and my three packs of
pseudoephedrine. The retailer, if they're trained, should go, 'Oops, well,
they're partying this weekend.' "

Though false alarms occur, he said, there is rarely a good reason for a
consumer to buy multiple packs.

"If you have a cold, buy a pack, get over your cold," Ciaffone said. "I
don't see the need to buy a case."

In North Carolina, some drug and grocery chains have programmed their cash
registers to block sales of three or more packs. Wal-Mart has done so since
1997, a spokeswoman said. The chain also won't sell the medicine to anyone
younger than 18.

At a Wal-Mart in Raleigh, a clerk stopped an attempted purchase of four
Sudafed packages Thursday, allowing only three. Along with the receipt, she
pulled a note from the register saying "federal and state law, and Wal-Mart
policy, limit the sales of pseudoephedrine-containing products."

The note referred a shopper to the Web site of Partnership for a Drug-Free
America, which provides information to persuade kids and teens to reject
substance abuse.

CVS, a pharmacy chain with 264 drugstores in North Carolina, programmed all
its registers last fall to get in step with the DEA guidelines, a spokesman
said.