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Pharmacist Gary Lundgren holds a Sudafed in Central Drugs Tuesday, June 27, 2006, in Portland, Ore. Buyers of any medicines containing the decongestant pseudoephedrine or two similar ingredients will need a prescription in Oregon beginning Saturday as the state becomes the first to go that far to keep the pills from home meth labs.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Popular cold and allergy medicines containing the decongestant pseudoephedrine will require a prescription in Oregon beginning Saturday as the state becomes the first to go that far to keep the pills from home meth labs.
It is Oregon’s latest effor to stop abuse of the pills, which were sold openly until last May, when retailers were required to put them behind the counter. That was added to a requirement a few months earlier that they take the names of buyers and log the sales.
The new law is the strictest among restrictions passed recently by many states.
The National Alliance of Model state Drug Laws says more than 40 states have taken some regulatory steps to control pseudoephedrine and related ingredients since the start of 2005.
Deputy Director Amy Powell said there are reports of other states waiting to see how the Oregon law works out, but she knew of no other specific proposals to require prescriptions.
Pseudoephedrine is an ingredient in methamphetamine. It and two related ingredients will be classed as Schedule 3 controlled substances, in the same league as Valium, said Gary Schnabel, executive director of the Oregon Board of Pharmacy.
“We think Oregon is the only one to require a prescription,” said Blake Harrison, a Denver-based analyst with the criminal justice program of the National Conference of State Legislatures, after an online check.
“Some states limit how much you can buy,” he said. “If you need more than that you can get it with a prescription.”
Several other states, including neighboring Washington, also require the pills to be behind the counter, and federal law will make that mandatory nationwide after Sept. 30.
Oregon’s new law applies to well-known brands including some forms of Sudafed, Claritin-D and NyQuil.
Earlier controls already have made a difference in Oregon, said Lt. Eric Schober, who until recently ran the Portland Police Bureau’s meth program.
“It’s way, way down,” he said. “In 2005 we didn’t find one real lab, just leftovers from previous operations. In 2004 we had about 200.”
Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the Oregon Narcotics Enforcement Association, said meth lab busts are down 77 percent across the state since Oregon began regulation.
Most of what police still find, he said, appears to be from “group smurfing.”
“That’s where four or five people will go around to several pharmacies and each buy a couple of boxes at a time then give it all to the meth cook,” he said.
He predicted the prescription law would end that.
Schober said the decline of small meth labs put only a dent in the overall supply because meth keeps pouring in from Mexico and elsewhere. However, he said, the tightening of controls has gotten meth houses out of the neighborhoods, where they posed serious health hazards because of the chemicals used and the frequent presence of children.
Meth processing requires hydrochloric and sulfuric acid, toluene and other dangerous substances that can make a meth lab so contaminated that authorities need protective clothing to enter. Some houses used as labs have been rendered uninhabitable.
Some customers and pharmacists say Oregon’s new law will be an inconvenience, although getting the pills for those who need them has been made fairly easy. A doctor can phone in a renewable prescription without seeing the patient, said Jim Kronenberg of the Oregon Medical Association.
Dr. Michael Noonan, a Portland allergist, said he favored getting the pills off the shelf but was concerned the prescription law might make them unavailable to people who could not afford a doctor.
And, he said, he didn’t consider some ingredients being substituted for the controlled ones to be as good.
A spot check of consumers at a busy Portland pharmacy found mixed feelings about the law.
“It’s going to be a pain,” said Celly Howards. “But in the papers you read all the time about that drug (meth) and what it does ....” Several others echoed her views.
Ken Hatch, a pharmacist at Ainsworth Drug and Gifts in North Portland, said some buyers have switched to remedies such as pills containing phenylephrine, a decongestant that can’t be made into methamphetamine and can be purchased over the counter.
And Schnabel, of the pharmacy board, said many druggists are looking forward to Saturday.
“From what we’re hearing, pharmacists are a little relieved because right now ... they have to keep a manual log at the pharmacy, check IDs and write in names,” he said.
It is Oregon’s latest effor to stop abuse of the pills, which were sold openly until last May, when retailers were required to put them behind the counter. That was added to a requirement a few months earlier that they take the names of buyers and log the sales.
The new law is the strictest among restrictions passed recently by many states.
The National Alliance of Model state Drug Laws says more than 40 states have taken some regulatory steps to control pseudoephedrine and related ingredients since the start of 2005.
Deputy Director Amy Powell said there are reports of other states waiting to see how the Oregon law works out, but she knew of no other specific proposals to require prescriptions.
Pseudoephedrine is an ingredient in methamphetamine. It and two related ingredients will be classed as Schedule 3 controlled substances, in the same league as Valium, said Gary Schnabel, executive director of the Oregon Board of Pharmacy.
“We think Oregon is the only one to require a prescription,” said Blake Harrison, a Denver-based analyst with the criminal justice program of the National Conference of State Legislatures, after an online check.
“Some states limit how much you can buy,” he said. “If you need more than that you can get it with a prescription.”
Several other states, including neighboring Washington, also require the pills to be behind the counter, and federal law will make that mandatory nationwide after Sept. 30.
Oregon’s new law applies to well-known brands including some forms of Sudafed, Claritin-D and NyQuil.
Earlier controls already have made a difference in Oregon, said Lt. Eric Schober, who until recently ran the Portland Police Bureau’s meth program.
“It’s way, way down,” he said. “In 2005 we didn’t find one real lab, just leftovers from previous operations. In 2004 we had about 200.”
Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the Oregon Narcotics Enforcement Association, said meth lab busts are down 77 percent across the state since Oregon began regulation.
Most of what police still find, he said, appears to be from “group smurfing.”
“That’s where four or five people will go around to several pharmacies and each buy a couple of boxes at a time then give it all to the meth cook,” he said.
He predicted the prescription law would end that.
Schober said the decline of small meth labs put only a dent in the overall supply because meth keeps pouring in from Mexico and elsewhere. However, he said, the tightening of controls has gotten meth houses out of the neighborhoods, where they posed serious health hazards because of the chemicals used and the frequent presence of children.
Meth processing requires hydrochloric and sulfuric acid, toluene and other dangerous substances that can make a meth lab so contaminated that authorities need protective clothing to enter. Some houses used as labs have been rendered uninhabitable.
Some customers and pharmacists say Oregon’s new law will be an inconvenience, although getting the pills for those who need them has been made fairly easy. A doctor can phone in a renewable prescription without seeing the patient, said Jim Kronenberg of the Oregon Medical Association.
Dr. Michael Noonan, a Portland allergist, said he favored getting the pills off the shelf but was concerned the prescription law might make them unavailable to people who could not afford a doctor.
And, he said, he didn’t consider some ingredients being substituted for the controlled ones to be as good.
A spot check of consumers at a busy Portland pharmacy found mixed feelings about the law.
“It’s going to be a pain,” said Celly Howards. “But in the papers you read all the time about that drug (meth) and what it does ....” Several others echoed her views.
Ken Hatch, a pharmacist at Ainsworth Drug and Gifts in North Portland, said some buyers have switched to remedies such as pills containing phenylephrine, a decongestant that can’t be made into methamphetamine and can be purchased over the counter.
And Schnabel, of the pharmacy board, said many druggists are looking forward to Saturday.
“From what we’re hearing, pharmacists are a little relieved because right now ... they have to keep a manual log at the pharmacy, check IDs and write in names,” he said.
