New law puts pseudoephedrine behind counter.(Practice Trends)

Over-the-counter drugs containing pseudoephedrine will go behind the counter beginning in late September under a new law passed by Congress and signed by President Bush.

The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005--passed as part of the reauthorization of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005--requires consumers who wish to purchase pseudoephedrine-containing over-the-counter medicines to show photo identification and sign a log book. It also limits the amount of pseudoephedrine-containing products that can be purchased to 3.6 g per day and 9 g within a 30-day period.

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), one of the supporters of the legislation, said the new law will help combat methamphetamine abuse. "Easy access to common cold medicine is a meth cook's dream come true," Rep. Blunt said in a statement. "The most effective way to fight the meth epidemic is to make it harder for criminals to get the key ingredient in the production of this deadly drug."

Dr. Punyamurtula S. Kishore, an addiction medicine specialist in Chestnut Hill, Mass., agreed, although he noted that it wouldn't solve the problem completely. "[Pseudoephedrine] is the chief ingredient in the whole cooking process," said Dr. Kishore. 'Any controls are good controls."

Dr. Maurice Ramirez, an emergency physician in Orlando, Fla., and a drug-testing professional for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulated industries, said that one reason cold medicines are being put behind the counter is to reduce the number of addicts who buy raw materials for their suppliers. "When you're taking meth, you look like you have a cold anyway, so the addicts buy a cartload of cold medicines and credit it against their account at the pusher," he said. "It's foolish for [manufacturers] to go to the store and get their own pseudoephedrine, because they know that's where people are watching."

Dr. Ramirez noted that the law also applies to sales of cold medicines on the Internet, which is one way many suppliers get them. "Many can just buy it over the Internet in large bulk amounts if they have a solid address and can generate the appropriate fake paperwork. It's harder to get the ammonia you need than it is to get cold medicine components. That part [of the law] is to counter crime and I think that's appropriate," although it doesn't solve the problem ...