NEW PSEUDOEPHEDRINE REGULATIONS AFFECTING PHARMACIES

Some pharmacy customers understand. Others don't. But a new law
regulating the sale of over-the-counter medications containing
pseudoephedrine has changed the way customers buy the medication.

Customers must sign for products that contain ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine - the key ingredients in making crystal
methamphetamine, considered to be the No. 1 drug problem in Alabama.

The law that regulates the sale of the drug went into effect July 1.

Most law enforcement agencies say the number of meth labs has
decreased, but there are still some reports of labs.

Chas Clifton, commander of the Cherokee County Drug Task Force, said
the law has helped, but it is only a matter of time until those who
cook meth find another way.

The law requires that the medication must be kept behind the counter
or locked in a display case.

Those who make the purchase must show their drivers license to get
information such as name, address and phone number. Only two packages
can be bought within a 30-day period.

It's not affecting the small, independently owned pharmacies as much
as it is the large chain retailers, Physicians Apothecary owner Danny
Guest said.

Many of the local pharmacies work together, to compare notes on those
that seem suspicious and are buying the drug, said Linda Stiph, a
pharmacy inventory technician at CVS in East Gadsden said.

"A lot of the customers don't like it, but they understand," she said.

Most pharmacies know the needs of their regular customers and can
detect someone who might be trying to buy the drug to make meth, she said.

For now, the law is helping, Clifton said. "It gives us another tool
in fighting the meth war."

But Clifton said those who cook meth eventually will figure out some
other way to get the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine to make meth.

Clifton attended a school in December in Mississippi that teaches
some of the resourcefulness meth cooks have come up with.

"They're going to find a way around the law eventually," he said.
"It's important that the Legislature passed the law, but there's more
to be done."