To Fight Meth Labs, Missouri Targets Cold Pills

Desperate to halt a soaring drug problem in rural Missouri, state lawmakers are weighing severe restrictions on sales of common over-the-counter cold medications, such as Sudafed, that can be used to make methamphetamine.

The House last week passed the toughest legislation in the nation regulating pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in most nasal decongestants. The bill, now under consideration by the Senate, would limit customers to two boxes of medication per transaction.

More controversial still, the bill would require stores to keep nasal decongestants behind the counter or within 6 feet of the cash register, or to tag each box with an anti-theft device.

Several other states have banned consumers from buying more than three boxes of cold pills at one time. But no other state regulates where decongestants can be sold, said Nancy Bukar, a lobbyist for the Consumer Healthcare Products Assn., which represents manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter medicines.

“This is a ridiculous solution,” said Ronald Leone, executive vice president of a trade group representing convenience stores. Most stores, he said, already stash cigarettes, adult magazines, liquor and condoms behind the counter. There’s no room, he argued, for decongestants. “This law is draconian,” he said, “and it’s not going to solve the problem.”

The problem is that pseudoephedrine can be combined with other ingredients -- such as anhydrous ammonia from farm fertilizer or red phosphorus from matches -- to produce methamphetamine, a highly addictive, illegal stimulant that is also known as meth, ice, crystal and crank.

Missouri law enforcement officers raided 2,725 meth labs last year -- an average of more than seven a day. California’s illicit labs tend to produce a higher volume of the drug, but for two years running, Missouri has led the nation in the sheer number of meth seizures.

The makeshift labs -- which involve highly volatile chemicals and are prone to explosions -- have been found all over the state, including wealthy suburbs. They are most common in sparsely populated rural areas, where meth addicts convert abandoned barns into miniature factories, using everyday products such as cold pills, propane tanks and coffee filters to brew the stimulant.

“Methamphetamine represents the fastest-growing drug threat in Missouri,” said Sen. Anita Yeckel, a Republican who is sponsoring the pseudoephedrine bill. “We want to take the most aggressive way we can to fight the problem.... Tighter control of meth ingredients seems to be one of the most promising approaches.”

Critics argue that although the bill might slow down theft of cold pills, it would not prevent a meth addict from buying as much as he needed to make the drug. Although customers would be limited to two boxes per transaction, they could get back in line again and again, buying two additional boxes every time. Or they could buy two at each of a dozen stores.

Still, Capt. Chris Ricks of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said law enforcement would welcome any restrictions that make it even a bit harder for meth cooks to get their hands on pseudoephedrine. “There is a methamphetamine epidemic in this state,” Ricks said. “We’re looking for any tool we can get that might help us fight it.”