CHEMISTS: GET TOUGH ON 'P' PILLS

Health officials are being urged to ban some cold and flu pills or make
them prescription-only to stop them being used for the illegal drugs speed
and P.

Such a ban would apply to some of the best decongestants on the market,
such as Actifed, Sudafed and Nurofen Cold and Flu.

Calls to ban the pseudoephedrine-based pills come from pharmacists sick of
customers getting angry when asked to show photo identification to buy the
pills.

Some are already refusing to stock the pills after being robbed or burgled.

The president of the Pharmacy Guild, Richard Heslop, said the problems had
prompted some pharmacists to call for a ban.

"The unfortunate part is that it inconveniences the genuine purchaser -
it's the best decongestant we have available."

The Waitemata District Health Board has lobbied the Ministry of Health to
make the pills prescription-only.

Board member Warren Flaunty said the call was made to help tackle P
addiction, "destroyed families" and "customers who become so irate".

Such a move would effectively kill sales of the pills, since most people
with colds or flu would rather self-medicate than visit doctors for
prescriptions.

The Government has responded by considering whether to reclassify the pills
under the Misuse of Drugs Act, as recommended by the Expert Advisory
Committee on Drugs.

The plan is to make pseudoephedrine a class C drug - the same broad
category that applies to some forms of cannabis.

Ministry of Health media adviser Joanne Perry said pharmacy customers would
notice little difference under the plan but border officials would have
stronger powers to control imports.

The Herald revealed yesterday that Customs Service staff were struggling to
deal with a surge of pseudoephedrine imports that could bring four million
pills in for illegal drug factories this year.

Customs was hamstrung by provisions in the act that made it hard to
prosecute the importers. Joanne Perry said the proposal might go through
Parliament within two months.

Pharmacists yesterday said it had become almost universal during the past
three months to ask for photo identification when customers wanted the pills.

Packets costing around $14 could be sold to illegal drug factories for $100.

Police believe 95 per cent of speed and P in New Zealand is made from the
pills.