Pseudoephedrine supplies going off grocery, pharmacy shelves

Sunday, March 28th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Meth addicts will soon find ready supplies of pseudoephedrine -- the main ingredient in making methamphetamine -- disappearing from the grocery and pharmacy shelves in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs plans to meet this week with officials from groups representing supermarkets, pharmacists, convenience stores and others that sell the medicines containing pseudoephedrine.

The meeting will set in motion a plan to help retailers get rid of the popular cold medicine in anticipation of final passage of a bill to ban over-the-counter sales of the tablet form of pseudoephedrine.

"We're going to be asking those stores that do not have pharmacies to immediately cease selling the tablet form of pseudoephedrine and secure it," said Lonnie Wright, executive director of the state narcotics agency.

"We're going to have a grace period of 30 days to return the product to wholesalers and for wholesalers to return it to out-of-state sources and get it out of Oklahoma," Wright said.

"What we're trying to do is to give every legitimate seller of pseudoephedrine the opportunity to liquidate their stock without selling it to the general public."

Pseudoephedrine is a chemical that is found in such popular cold medicines and decongestants as Sudafed and Claritin-D.

Gov. Brad Henry has asked lawmakers to take final action on the bill and send it to him by this week, so he can sign it into law. The measure has passed the Senate and will go to Henry if the House, as expected, accepts Senate amendments.

Upon enactment, tablets containing pseudoephedrine can only be purchased from pharmacists. Purchasers will be required to sign for the medicine and present photo identification.

Oklahoma would be the first state in the nation to ban over-the-counter sales of the medicine.

It will still be available for purchase without restriction in liquid and gelcaps.

Although there was initial opposition to the idea from some pharmaceutical interests, many Oklahoma retailers have embraced the change.

"It's a terrible problem and we need to do our part to help cure it," said Jim Hopper, executive director of the Oklahoma Grocers Association.

Phil Woodward, executive director of the Oklahoma Pharmacists Association, said some of his pharmacists in rural areas see the bill as a godsend.

"Its kind of destroying these little towns out there," Woodward said of the cycle of whole families become meth addicts and getting their friends hooked.

Law enforcement officials say the kind of meth making in Oklahoma is mostly tied to addiction, and not making a profit.

Oklahoma has seen a 12,000 percent increase in meth labs over a 10-year period as methods of making the illegal substance from easily available cold medicines were perfected.

Raiding small meth labs has consumed the work of law officers and taken them away from properly investigating large-scale drug operations, Wright said.

Most of the drugs purchased for illegal meth are not bought at pharmacies, said Jane Watson, a pharmacists at Mark's Prescription Shop in Midwest City, an Oklahoma City suburb.

"If they hadn't put it on the Internet, we wouldn't have had this problem," she said of meth-cooking recipes that utilize pseudoephedrine.

She said her pharmacy has always turned away those wanting to purchase large quantities.

So has Ron Hulin, owner of Doctor's Park Pharmacy in Norman.

"We've always limited sales. They are almost recognizable when they come in the door. They are just hyped," Hulin said.

Hulin said "it's not going to be a problem" for his store to comply with the law.

Law enforcement officials say some convenience stores have had unusually high sales of pseudoephedrine products. One store in the Oklahoma City area, for instance, sold $4,000 worth of Coke products over a six month period and $70,000 worth of pseudoephedrine.

Woodward said although some consumers might think they are being inconvenienced, they can get the same results, or better, from the forms of the drug that will be left on the shelf.

"They are just as effective. There's no difference in them at all," he said of gelcaps and liquid psuedoephedrine.