Pharmacists support controls

By Sean Ingram
managingeditor@couriernews.com

Since cold medicines — or products containing pseudoephedrine, used in the manufacture of methamphetamine — have been locked up in Oklahoma, meth-lab seizures have declined more than 80 percent in the past 11 months.
On Thursday, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen introduced legislation aimed at controlling meth that would put many cold and allergy products behind pharmacy counters, restrict amounts sold and require showing an ID to buy them.
Kansas, Missouri and Texas are getting on board with similar controls. Politicians in Washington, Idaho, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Connecticut and Georgia are also pushing for laws requiring pharmacists to dispense pseudoephedrine or will be considering such legislation this year.
Guess what other legislative body, currently in session, is also discussing locking up cold medicines?
The Arkansas General Assembly.
While many state legislators approve laws or are drawing up legislation to crack down on the methamphetamine epidemic, pharmacists in Pope County are already locking up some of their cold medicines or have been discussing such controls for more than a year.
“I think everybody that has any kind of awareness knows we have a meth problem,” Gary Denton, pharmacist at Rose Drug in Russellville, explained Friday. “Our responsibility is for the health and welfare of the community. It may be a little bit of a hassle to keep up with, but I would think the pharmacies would be willing to do it for the whole community, the state and the population. That’s our responsibility, to protect the public health.”
Oklahoma formula
Pharmacists in Oklahoma locked up the meth makers’ cold medicine last year after the state banned over-the-counter sales of Sudafed and other decongestants used to produce meth, and ordered that the medicines be placed behind pharmacy counters. State officials said last month that many cooks have closed their labs because of the crackdown on pseudoephedrine.
Oklahoma and several other states have limited the amount of pseudoephedrine customers can buy at one time, but Oklahoma went further by requiring that the drug be dispensed by a pharmacist. Customers do not need a prescription for pseudoephedrine, but they have to produce ID and sign for the drug.
Oklahoma averaged 105 meth lab busts a month before the law took effect last April. By November, the number had dropped to 19.
Those numbers persuaded Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon to push for a similar measure there.
“This is a relatively small discomfort for the public,” Nixon told The Associated Press. However, after Missouri limited how much pseudoephedrine a customer could buy, the number of labs actually increased.
In Oklahoma, pseudoephedrine can no longer be sold in groceries and convenience stores. Signs on empty drugstore shelves direct people looking for relief from stuffy heads to the pharmacist. The law applies only to pills containing pseudoephedrine. Gel and liquid forms, which normally are not used to make meth, are still available over the counter.
Meth-making has left ugly scars on communities large and small in Oklahoma and throughout the southeastern United States. Children have been found playing among the volatile and highly toxic waste of their parents’ drug making.
Oklahoma’s law bears the names of three state troopers killed in confrontations with suspected meth users. Among them was Nik Green, who used to weep over the people he had arrested who were caught in meth’s iron grip, according to his widow.
Not a problem
“It wouldn’t be a problem for me to have it all behind the counter,” said Elmo Haney, pharmacist and owner of Elmo Haney Pharmacy in Atkins. He also said it would be very easy from his perspective, and wouldn’t have to worry about someone coming in every 15 minutes and buying every package on the shelf, or one person buying cold medicines then their friends follow to do the same.
“We only keep a couple on the shelf anyway,” Haney said. “If I don’t think they need it, I won’t sell it to them. We’ve had to pull a lot of stuff off the shelf. You can almost tell when they come in the door. We don’t sell insulin needles here, unless they can prove they are a diabetic. They also use insulin needles for meth.
“It’s not going to hurt business. Evidently, it makes them (meth producers) a lot of money, but it’s not a big-dollar item for us anyway.”
Oregon’s pharmacy board in October approved restrictions patterned on the Oklahoma law. And Illinois recently began requiring stores to lock pseudoephedrine tablets in cabinets or behind counters.
Bredesen released the legislation Thursday in advance of a Nashville ceremony to designate March as “Meth-Free Tennessee Month.”
Making meth creates toxic, sickening vapors, and state officials report that each year more than 700 children are taken away from parents caught manufacturing the drug.
‘Curb it tremendously’
John Cobb, a pharmacist at Russellville’s Wal-Mart, explained company officials have been well aware of pseudoephedrine controls enacted in other states and have been discussing what to do in Arkansas for some time.
“I think it would curb it tremendously,” Cobb said. “Oklahoma has had real good success with their program. It would benefit our community as well as the whole state. It (controls) is something we knew was actually coming a year in advance.
“This is a problem that’s not going away, and Wal-Mart has actually been a company that has curbed nationwide the number of pseudoephedrine products at the cash register. But even that has not slowed it down.”
Cobb went on to say he personally hasn’t noticed any people from other states who have purchased cold medicines from the Russellville Wal-Mart. Pharmacists have told The Associated Press that legislation has forced meth producers to cross into neighboring states to get what they need for their illegal meth manufacture.
“Most people really understand what the problem is, and they will do anything to cooperate with the problem,” Cobb said. “Nobody wants a meth lab in their neighborhood, so many of the people are willing to do anything to control this problem.
“We have, for probably at least a year, a lot of pseudoephedrine products that have been behind the counter already. People have to ask for it. For any suspicious transactions, we’ve been able to request photo identification and record that as well as addresses for law enforcement. We haven’t seen that much of a problem, only a couple of cases I know of off-hand, where it was a pretty suspicious transaction. But it has helped just moving it behind the counter.”
Pfizer Inc., the maker of Sudafed, does not oppose restrictions on the medication, but the company believes it is possible to secure the drug in groceries and other stores, not just pharmacies, according to The Associated Press. Meanwhile, Pfizer is planning to introduce a new form of Sudafed made without pseudoephedrine soon.
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores does not necessarily believe the Oklahoma law is the way to go, said Mary Ann Wagner, vice president of pharmacy regulatory affairs. She said customers miss out on hundreds of pseudoephedrine products that cannot be displayed behind the pharmacy counter.
The group believes the law’s apparent success may have more to do with impeding backdoor sales of cases of pseudoephedrine by rogue retailers, she said.
Hurting our people
Denton explained Friday he doesn’t believe large amounts of cold medicines are being purchased at Rose Drug in Russellville. He has become more aware how methamphetamine is hurting residents of the community.
“I don’t know where we’ve missed the boat on how bad it is for them; it’s really a problem,” Denton said. “We see people coming in in poor health and taking a lot of other medications, and those could probably be meth-related also. It is detrimental to their health. We haven’t had a problem at this store, but certainly an element of danger is involved when they (meth addicts) want to steal things, and we’re concerned about that. We haven’t had any rash problems around here.”
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation start a registry of properties contaminated by the drug making. Property owners would have to have the contaminated area cleaned by a certified industrial hygienist at their own expense to get off the list.
“The whole purpose for this is for people who have legitimate use of this medicine to have access to medicine, and those who don’t have legitimate uses for the medicine do not have access to it,” Cobb added.
Tennessee Rep. Charles Curtiss described meth making and abuse as the worst social problem in his lifetime.
“When an attorney gets sick sitting by a defendant, that’s a pretty bad drug,” Curtiss said.