COLD MEDICINES PULLED OFF SHELVES

Retailers are locking away some common cold medicines and herbal remedies
in response to a change in state law regulating the sale of ephedrine and a
sting by the Jasper County Drug Task Force.

The task force is asking the county prosecutor to cite clerks at 21 retail
stores for a misdemeanor violation of selling too much ephedrine in a
single transaction. On Aug. 28, state law changed to limit the sale of
ephedrine-or pseudoephedrine-containing drugs to no more than three boxes
or three grams.

The drug is regulated because it is an essential component in the
manufacture of methamphetamine, a homemade stimulant that law enforcement
officers say is widespread in Southwest Missouri.

Prosecutor Dean Dankelson received the task force's reports and requests
for charges on Wednesday and he will have to review them to determine
whether the charges are to be filed, a spokesman in his office said.

Ephedrine or pseudoephedrine are used in some decongestant cold medicines
like Sudafed and Actifed. It also is used in products that are marketed for
weight loss and stamina.

The task force's sting and the regulation of ephedra has alarmed and
frustrated people who sell or use it for legitimate purposes.

"We just pulled the products off the shelves. We will put them in a locked
cabinet and customers will have to ask for them," said Brooke Rentfro,
manager of Food 4 Less, 2800 E. 32nd St. She said the store management did
not know that state law had regulated the amount of product sold to three
packages and that it is alleged that a clerk in Friday's sting sold five
packages.

She said the law is an inconvenience to customers who will have to contact
a store employee to buy even a box now that the medicines have had to be
locked up to assure compliance with the law.

Paying The Price

Some have even quit selling products containing ephedra.

"My personal choice was, when I heard that everybody was limiting their
sales, to limit ours and we have not been selling ephedra drugs at all,"
said Mari An Willis, owner of Oak Street Health & Herbs in Carthage.
"There's other things you can take.

"What I hate to see is the American public paying the price for a few
people who choose to abuse or misuse products."

Her misgivings are shared by herbalists nationwide.

Moves toward not only local but federal governmental regulation of ephedra
had stirred debate about whether the product should be regulated and, if
so, how much.

Action by the federal Food and Drug Administration to study the health
effects of ephedra ignited controversy among herbalists and herbal drug
suppliers last year and this year.

The FDA contends that ephedra should be federally regulated as the result a
study by the think-tank Rand Corp. that showed ephedra, typically used for
weight control, energy or as a booster to physical fitness training and
athletic performance, showed that it caused heart palpitations, blood
pressure spikes and even strokes.

Areas of the country that, like Southwest Missouri, have experienced what
law enforcement officers have said is nearly epidemic meth abuse also are
in favor of regulating it.

But, groups like the American Herbalists Guild have registered their
opposition with the FDA, saying that non-herbalists misunderstand the use
of the whole plant versus extractions made from it that are used in the
addictive meth.

The guild said there is "persistent confusion" about ephedra in medical
literature and the Rand report. In an a position paper the guild sent to
the FDA and published on it's Web site, www.americanherbalistsguild.com,
the guild said:

"This confusion implies the crude herb (ephedra) is interchangeable with
the ephedrine, the alkaloid, or even with commercial dietary supplements
containing isolated ephedra alkaloids in combination with other agents,
like caffeine."

Willis, who has been in the herbal and health-food business for 26 years,
said ephedra has long been used with success by those who study plants and
herbs.

"Ephedra - ma haung is it's Chinese name - has traditionally been safely
used for many years, probably hundreds of years as a whole herb. If you
don't probably use something correctly, of course you can be harmed by it.
But you can misuse any food, including coffee, caffeine and sugar."

Jane Case, the owner of Good Vibrations, an herb store at 20th Street and
Pearl Avenue, agrees. She has customers who buy it specifically to treat
allergies. But, she said she has cautioned customers about some of the side
effects of ephedra.

"It's not a product that I encourage," said Case, whose store was not among
those included in the sting. "I've never sold more than one bottle of it at
a time," she said.

Exceeding The Limits

The drug task force said in a written statement that undercover officers
were sent to more than 50 outlets in Jasper County. Most of the 21 that
allegedly sold an amount over the legal limit were convenience stores and
grocery clerks.

A clerk at only one health store, Margie's Herb Shop, is among the 21.

Herb Shop owner Margie Lundien declined to talk about the sting, saying she
wants to make a public statement, but that she first wants to meet with law
enforcement officials.

A clerk at that store was cited for selling a product called "Magic Herb."

Willis said "Magic Herb" wholesalers have told dealers that the product
does not apply to ephedra laws but a representative of Magic Herb, who
would not give her name, declined to comment on whether the product is
excluded from state law or why.

But, clerks like those at the health stores, pharmacies and grocers are
faced with a tall order in identifying products or combinations of products
addressed by the law, said Joe Courtright, vice president of
pharmaceuticals for May's Drug Warehouse, based in Tulsa, Okla.

A clerk at the chain's Webb City store was one on the list of locations
cited by the task force.

May's stores had already taken action to comply with the law, Courtright said.

"Items containing large quantities of pseudoephedrine were pulled off the
shelves completely and put them under the counter," where customers will
have to ask for them, he said. "The other products we have put security
tags on.

"But with thousands of different cough and cold medicines, it's hard for a
cashier to determine" all of them that contain the regulated drugs or, when
bought in combination with other cold or cough products, exceed the law's
limit.

"That's what happened in this particular case," Courtright said. The
undercover officer bought a mix of cold and cough products, not a large
supply of one particular item, he said.

"It's easy to police selling tobacco or alcohol to minors, that's pretty
cut and dried. But this one is a lot more difficult because of the huge
number of products that contain pseudoephedrine," Courtright said.