COLD MEDICINE BILL AIMS AT CURBING METH

Last November, Cpl. Jason Grellner of the Franklin County Sheriff's
Department asked his state senator to introduce legislation to curb
methamphetamine production in Missouri - the No. 1 producer of the drug in
the United States.

Grellner suggested the state regulate the amount of cold pills a person
could buy to two boxes at one time. Many cold pills contain pseudophedrine,
an important chemical in meth production. A pound of cold pill medication
produces a pound of meth, Grellner said.

Drafting the Bill

State Sen. Anita Yeckel, R-St. Louis, introduced Grellner to state Rep.
Robert Mayer, R-Dexter. The two lawmakers drafted a bill that would
restrict cold pills to two-box purchases and require stores to sell the
medication from the counter. The drug would have to be within the cashier's
visibility or have electronic safety measures. Yeckel said the bill will
help reduce shoplifting of the drug and force meth producers to make
multiple trips, which will alert law enforcement officials.

The bill sponsors believe this bill is important to Missouri because it is
being infested with meth use and meth production.
(http://www.stopdrugs.org/methamphetamines.html) Meth makes up 10 percent
of illegal drugs in Boone County, and law enforcement officials say it is
expected to grow because Boone County is a rural area. The
(http://www.showmeboone.com/SHERIFF/ Boone County Sheriff's Department
uncovered about 16 (http://www.montana.edu/wwwai/imsd/rezmeth/methlabs.htm)
meth labs in 2002, Ken Kreigh of the county drug enforcement unit said.
Missouri's border states of Tennessee and Nebraska also have meth problems.
Tennessee is considering a bill based on the language of the Missouri bill,
Yeckel said.

That bill, S.B. l433, passed the Missouri House in March and is now before
the Senate Judiciary, Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

Pros and Cons

State Rep. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, supports the legislation and voted for
the bill when it came up for a house vote.

"There's only so much legislation can do, but this is a pretty big problem
and we're going to try to work on it," Graham said.

However, state Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson, D-Columbia, said she voted against
the bill when it went through the House because she thought it was too
restrictive on businesses.

"I didn't vote against controlling products but in favor of giving more
flexibility and autonomy to our small retailers to determine how best to
keep their merchandise safe from theft," Wilson said. "I would trust
retailers to determine what's safe; they don't want their merchandise stolen."

Last year state lawmakers passed a law that restricted cold medicine sales
to three boxes. Yeckel's bill goes further by restricting placement of cold
pills within the store to prevent shoplifting. Shoplifting is a frequent
occurrence in Columbia because theft is not as obvious in a bigger city as
it would be in a smaller town, according to the Columbia Police Department.

Support

"It's not an inexpensive item," said Sgt. Bryan Piester of the Columbia
Police Department Narcotics Unit. "We catch several people each month
coming to Columbia from out of town to steal it."

Meth is a major problem for Columbia, and Police Chief Randy Boehm said he
would support any legislation to restrict it.

Local pharmacies are also helping law enforcement combat meth production.

The Medicine Shoppe in Columbia said it sells cold pills off the shelves
but would not have trouble putting them behind the counter. The stock is
small, and someone buying a lot of the drug would be noticeable, said Jim
Reid, manager of the Medicine Shoppe.

Some larger stores in Columbia already have anti-theft measures in place
for cold medicines. HyVee requires customers to ask for it, and only sells
one box at a time, pharmacy manager Toni Doster said.