Bill would regulate sale of over-the-counter cold pills

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Laws that keep pseudo-ephedrine-based drugs behind sales counters and require identification with purchase are already on the books in Oklahoma. Twenty-four other states, including Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Kansas, as well as Congress, are considering enacting similar legislation this year.

A bill before the Hawai'i Legislature is modeled after language used in the Oklahoma law.

Pseudoephedrine "is a drug that is used to finish the product," said Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona, at a news conference yesterday touting the Lingle administration's anti-drug initiative, of which the pseudoephedrine bill is a key component.

Aiona said there is a need to regulate pseudoephedrine before toxic meth production labs like those that plague Mainland states become prevalent in Hawai'i.

The proposed bill would classify medicinal tablets made with pseudoephedrine as a controlled substance, dispensable only by a pharmacist. Customers would be required to provide a valid photo identification and sign a logbook before buying the tablets.

Customers would be limited to two boxes, or 96 pills, and any excessive buying over a 30-day period would immediately be reported to police. Law-enforcement officials hope that by limiting the availability of pseudo-ephedrine, clandestine drug-lab activity can be curtailed. Methamphetamine can be crystallized by drug users to create "ice."

Last year, state and federal law-enforcement officers uncovered more than 30 drug labs, a sixfold increase over 2003.

It takes 700 to 1,000 pills to make a half-ounce of methamphetamine, police say.

Under the proposed law, retailers at convenience stores and gas stations, two outlets that don't have pharmacies, can sell gel capsules and liquid forms of pseudoephedrine-based cold tablets. Their sale also will be allowed in stores. Pseudoephedrine in liquid form is almost impossible to convert into meth.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are split on this type of legislation. Some say it won't affect sales, while others say the laws in other states are discriminatory and unfair.

Pfizer Inc., maker of Sudafed, made a new version of the cold and allergy medicine without pseudoephedrine available Jan. 10. Sudafed PE has been sold in Europe for years and will not replace the regular Sudafed product.

Pfizer has said in statements that it will not contest the laws on state or federal levels.

Market research conducted in states considering the legislation shows that consumers are not deterred by having restrictions put on pseudoephedrine products.

According to a 2003 study conducted by the University of Northern Iowa Center for Social and Behavioral Research,

85 percent of consumers said limiting the amount would be of little or no inconvenience, and 82 percent support that idea. Also, 82 percent of consumers said showing identification would be of little or no inconvenience, and 79 percent support that idea.

On the Mainland, labs producing and converting methamphetamine into crystal meth have spread from the valleys of California to rural communities of the Midwest.

The proposed law, authorities say, would make it difficult for anyone to amass significant quantities of meth.

"If you don't have the chemicals to make drugs, the drugs don't get made," said Larry Burnett, director of the Hawai'i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a partnership of federal, state and county law-enforcement agencies. "It makes it harder for the people who are producing meth through clan(destine) labs to get the precursor chemicals. It is a great concept."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.