JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Cold and allergy sufferers may soon have a harder time finding medicines such as Sudafed in Missouri, the latest state to enact new retail restrictions on products that can be used to make the illegal drug methamphetamine, reported the Associated Press.
Governor Matt Blunt signed legislation Wednesday requiring the powder pill forms of medicines containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine to be placed behind the pharmacy counter and sold only by pharmacists and their technicians.
The new law also requires customers [image-nocss] buying the medicines to be at least age 18, show photo identification and sign a log that police can later review. The restrictions do not apply to the gel cap or liquid forms of the medicines, because they are not easily transformed into meth.
"These bills will keep the key ingredients needed to make methephedrine and pseudoephedrineout of the hands of drug manufacturers and, by doing so, will put them out of business," said Blunt, who was flying to five cities Wednesday for ceremonial bill signings.
Missouri has led the nation in meth lab seizures each of the past several years, busting 2,788 meth labs last year alone, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Just two years ago, Missouri also was at the national forefront in its anti-meth laws, becoming the first state to impose retail display restrictions on medicines. The 2003 law required products with pseudoephedrine or ephedrine as the sole active ingredient to be placed either behind the checkout counter, within 10 feet and a clear view of the counter or to be tagged with an electronic anti-theft device.
But meth lab seizures have continued to rise, and other states have enacted stricter laws than Missouri's. Through April, Missouri law officers reported 1,322 meth lab seizures this yearon pace for a more than 40% increase over last year, said Highway Patrol Captain Chris Ricks.
Law officers believe part of the increase is attributable to an influx of meth makers from neighboring Oklahoma, which in April 2004 became the first state to require that pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products be placed behind the pharmacy counter. Since then, more than a dozen other states have enacted similar laws. Congress also is considering a proposal modeled on the Oklahoma law.
Retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart and Walgreens have put in place their own guidelines to move cold products behind pharmacy counters or to limit their sales.
The new law gives stores until July 15 to move their pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products behind the pharmacy counters. Businesses without pharmacists, such as convenience stores, have until then to send their extra pills back to manufacturers or others who can legally sell them. Pharmacists have until September 13 to begin keeping a written or electronic log of customer names, addresses and purchase amounts of the restricted sinus medicines; however, the law does not require the logs to flow into a centralized database.
The new law also imposes different limits on how much medicine people can buy. Missouri previously limited shoppers to two packages per purchase of medicines with pseudoephedrine or ephedrine as the sole active ingredient and three packages per purchase for medicines that contain other active ingredients.
The new law limits people to 9 grams a month of any powder pill medicine containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine. For gel caps and liquid forms, the 9-gram restriction would apply to each purchase. Nine grams is equal to 300 tablets of 30 milligram Sudafed, which typically lasts four hours. That means customers could buy about 12 boxes containing 24 pills each monthmore than enough to take the maximum dose of the medicine around the clock.
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