Pubdate: Wed, 22 Dec 2004
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2004 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Kimberly Hefling
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

SUDAFED'S MAKER ACTS TO CURB METHAMPHETAMINE PRODUCTION

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The maker of Sudafed is offering a new version of the 
cold and allergy medicine without an ingredient often used to produce the 
illegal and highly addictive drug methamphetamine in homemade labs.

Pseudophedrine will be replaced with another substance in a new product 
called Sudafed PE, which will become available Jan. 10 in the United 
States, Pfizer Inc. spokeswoman Erica Johnson said Wednesday. Pfizer will 
continue to offer the old Sudafed, too.

Johnson said the new formula will make it easier for consumers to buy the 
medication and could help curtail meth production.

Minnesota has been one of many states hard hit by meth addiction, which has 
been blamed for everything from prison overcrowding to strains on social 
services.

One city, Austin, has passed a law limiting Sudafed purchases to two 
packages at a time and only by people at least 18 years old. The law 
extends to other medications containing ephedrine and other chemicals that 
can be used in meth production.

In the southern Minnesota city, merchants must place the medications behind 
a checkout counter or inside a locked display case to discourage 
shoplifters. Gov. Tim Pawlenty is pushing for a state law limiting access 
to over-the-counter drugs with meth components.

Many other states already require pharmacists to keep Sudafed and other 
cold medicines used to make meth behind a counter. Oklahoma requires that 
such medications be distributed by a pharmacist, a step also being 
considered in Indiana and other states hit hard by the drug epidemic.

"It's a matter of striking a balance between giving access to legitimate 
consumers of the medicine and preventing criminals from getting hold of the 
product to convert it to methamphetamine," Johnson said.

Johnson said the new formula has been sold for years in Europe and has 
proved as effective as traditional Sudafed.

"Anything anybody can do to reduce the use of pseudophedrine to make meth 
is a good thing," said Eric Lawrence, program manager for an Indiana State 
Police unit that searches for clandestine drug laboratories.

Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported that more than 
7,000 meth labs were dismantled nationwide.

The drug, a stimulant that can be injected, smoked or swallowed, has grown 
in popularity in recent years as its use and production have spread from 
the South and Southwest. It is most prevalent in California and the Midwest.

Indiana State Police expect to have dismantled 1,500 meth labs by the end 
of the year, up from 1,260 last year and just 27 in 1998.

Jim Braum, a pharmacist at the Oak Hill Pharmacy in Evansville who keeps 
Sudafed and other cold medicines containing pseudophedrine behind the 
counter, said he doubts the new Sudafed formula alone will curb meth 
production.

"The other pseudophedrine will still be out there," Braum said.
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