NEW STATE LAW ON COLD MEDICINES COULD BREACH CONSUMERS' PRIVACY

Snohomish County pharmacies are struggling to comply with a new state
law that limits access to cold medicines that also can be used to
make methamphetamine.

One side effect of the law is likely to be some sacrifice of
individual privacy.

Pharmacies are now required to ask for identification and keep
logbooks with the names of people who buy cold medicines with certain
ingredients.

However, reporters for The Herald found that some pharmacies required
customers buying cold medicine to sign the logbooks, which is against
state Board of Pharmacy policy, while others brought the logbooks to
the counter, which unintentionally allowed the reporters to see who
else had purchased cold medicine before them.

Sandra Ellington of Snohomish was surprised when a reporter contacted
her and inquired about her purchase.

"That's a little odd," Ellington said.

Bruce Ramsay of Sultan was also a bit surprised at how easily The
Herald learned that his wife, Kelly, had recently purchased cold medicine.

Ramsay and Ellington each said they could see both sides of the
privacy issues raised by the new law. Ramsay works for the state
Department of Corrections, and his wife works at a pharmacy.

"I hope that Big Brother, if you will, is not looking at this to do
other things. I've got to believe they're going to be using this data
to do good things," Ramsay said.

Ellington had a similar attitude.

"I'm not really wild that anybody in town could get my name," she
said. "But it's not like my (credit card) number was on it."

The state Board of Pharmacy last week began publicizing its
regulations for documenting cold-medicine sales. While it wants the
names of people who buy the drugs, it doesn't want pharmacies to
require people to sign a logbook.

Local health care providers say they are looking to a federal medical
privacy law for guidance.

Group Health Cooperative and the Everett Clinic said they take steps
to ensure that records for the cold medicine they sell remains behind
the pharmacy counter.

The federal privacy law "does require that access to log sheets be
restricted," said Kirk Williamson, a spokesman for Group Health.

"We decided we'll treat it the same way we would treat any other
prescription drug," he said. "If you buy it from us, it goes into our
prescription record-keeping system."

At the Everett Clinic, there's no public log kept of the purchases,
"so there's no way someone can see what anyone else is getting,"
spokeswoman Catherine Russell said.

The information is kept behind the counter, she said.

For Ramsay, sacrificing some privacy is worth it to fight methamphetamine use.

"I think there is potential for abuse in any arena," Ramsay said.
"But I'm a realist. In the event we restrict access, (meth
manufacturers) will just find another ingredient. But we've got to
minimize their access."

Ellington agreed that meth use is a problem. The solution, for her,
is trickier.

"We definitely need to come up with some kind of plan," Ellington
said. "I don't know if this is the one."

Reporter Sharon Salyer contributed to this story.