Oregon regulates cold pills further

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, June 29, 2006

PORTLAND, Ore. – 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 effort 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 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.

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.