PHARMACY MAY PULL PILL STOCKS

Nelson pharmacists are turning away customers every day who they
suspect want to buy pills to manufacture illegal drugs.

The growing problem has forced at least one pharmacy to consider
pulling stocks of targeted pharmaceuticals altogether.

Prices Pharmacy on Collingwood St, Nelson, has been hit by burglars
twice within the last few weeks.

Cold and flu pills or hayfever medication containing pseudoephedrine
were targeted. About 300 packets of assorted drugs were taken on one
occasion.

Pseudoephedrine is commonly used to manufacture the illicit class A
drug methamphetamine.

Pharmacist Kerryn Stokes said staff were trained to refer anyone
requesting these products to a pharmacist who would then decide
whether to make the sale.

She said pharmacists were now turning away customers daily who they
suspected were trying to buy the medication for illegal use.

The problem had intensified over the last three to six months and they
were now considering the removal of targeted drugs altogether.

"The girls who work in the shop are already scared after what's
happened. It's definitely a safety issue."

"I think a lot of people thought Nelson was a bit of a soft spot
before now."

Pharmacists' Guild central representative Dave Ross said he refused to
sell pseudoephedrine-based products to about six customers each week
at his Motueka pharmacy.

Mr Ross would only sell certain medications to people he knew. All
pseudoephedrine-based products were kept out of sight behind the
counter and Mr Ross said he called police when he suspected someone
wanted the drugs for illegal use.

He had not had a problem with break-ins at his pharmacy and was not
aware of them being a widespread problem in the Nelson area.

But Wakefield Pharmacy owner Jo Mickleson said her business had been
targeted by thieves recently for pseudoephedrine-based pills.

There was a "huge problem" with drug makers trying to source
ingredients from the region's pharmacies, she said.

In the past, she had refused to sell the drugs to one or two people a
day. But she believed her pharmacy had now developed a reputation for
its hard line and the numbers had recently fallen.

Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne McCoy, officer in charge of Nelson
CIB, said more methamphetamine labs were being discovered in New Zealand.

Traces of the drug had been found in Nelson and it seemed likely it
was being manufactured locally, Mr McCoy said.

"We know that it's here and it's probably being made here. It's a
powerful psycho-stimulant and people use it as a recreational drug
unfortunately.

"Some people have been on it in Nelson and gone crazy. I'm expecting
that violence, if we don't control it, will go up."

Police were targeting people who attempted to buy "precursor
substances" like pseudoephedrine. But they needed information from the
public in order to bust local methamphetamine labs.