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States find success in fighting meth by locking up cold medicines
By John Seewer
Associated Press Writer
Before Oklahoma started forcing pharmacies a year ago to put cold medicines used to make methamphetamine behind their counters, retailers and drug makers fought the idea. Now that Oklahoma has seen a dramatic drop in meth lab seizures, at least 35 states, including Alaska, Ohio and Kansas, have either adopted or are considering similar laws.
And two of the nation's largest retailers - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. - have said in the last two weeks that they will begin moving many non-prescription cold and allergy medications behind the counters.
Even some drug makers are no longer trying to block states from putting restriction on its cold medicines.
"They're realizing they were wrong," said Mark Woodward, spokesman for Oklahoma's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.
Oklahoma's law limits the amount of cold medicine that contains pseudoephedrine one can buy at a pharmacy each month. Buyers also must show identification and sign a logbook.
Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient used in making illegal methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that has exploded in the Midwest. Also known as crank, ice or crystal, the stimulant can be smoked, snorted, swallowed or injected.
Six states now allow only pharmacies to sell drugs with pseudoephedrine, and seven others make retailers lock up the products or sell them from staffed counters. Legislatures in 22 states are considering similar restrictions.
House lawmakers in Ohio have approved a proposal similar to Oklahoma's law. The provision, tucked into the state budget bill, still needs approval from the Senate.
Rep. Timothy DeGeeter, who introduced the proposal, said not all drug companies were supportive.
"They want to make a sale and they want to make it easy for anyone who has a cold or the sniffles to get it," said DeGeeter, a Democrat from Parma. "I'm sure they don't want those products behind the counters."
Woodward, though, said some drug companies are now changing course. He said Pfizer Inc., which initially objected to Oklahoma's law, now is offering support and telling other states how good the law has been.
Pfizer makes Sudafed, one of the cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine. It also now is selling Sudafed PE, a version that doesn't contain pseudoephedrine.
Oklahoma was on pace to break a state record for meth lab seizures in 2004 until its law took effect in April. Meth lab findings then dropped by 80 percent.
The number of burn patients from meth labs dropped and so did the number of children exposed to the drug, Woodward said.
In October alone, the number of meth labs discovered dropped from 109 to 38. "We hadn't seen a drop in 10 years," he said. "And we tried everything in the book."
The result has been that Oklahoma's neighbors have seen a surge of meth makers looking for cold medicines and a place to produce the drug.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius responded by signing a bill two weeks ago that requires cold and allergy tablets containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to be sold only by pharmacies from behind a counter.
Kyle Smith, spokesman for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said that similar proposals were knocked down twice before in 1999 and 2002.
The idea wasn't accepted until lawmakers saw Oklahoma's success, he said.
"No longer could the opposition say it doesn't work," he said.
Report: WIC is out of whack with dietary needs
By Elizabeth Wolfe
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A government nutrition program for low-income women and young children lags behind current dietary standards, according to a report released in late April that suggests ways to revamp the 30-year-old food plans.
Encouraging program participants to breast feed, eat more whole grains, fruits and vegetables and cut down on some dairy products are among recommendations made in a federally funded study by the Institute of Medicine.
The proposals would mark the most dramatic changes made to the kinds of foods offered through WIC - the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - which serves some 8 million people per month, including about half of all infants in the United States.
WIC offers pregnant women, new mothers and their young children vouchers to buy certain foods tailored to their ages, breast-feeding habits or dietary needs.
But the nutrition plans have hardly changed since their 1970s debut, creating a gulf between the foods provided for in the vouchers and what the government now recommends Americans eat.
For example, the only fresh produce available through the program are carrots for breast-feeding moms. Participants can buy plenty of juice, though nutritionists now favor fresh fruit instead.
"If you look at the nutrient profiles of the current packages, they don't meet the dietary guidelines we promote today," said Suzanne Murphy, nutrition professor at the University of Hawaii, who chaired the review committee.
The panel suggested cutting by more than half the monthly juice allowances and instead provide $8 to $10 vouchers to buy fresh produce.
For children, the monthly allowance of eggs would be cut by about half to one dozen, and milk vouchers would cover 2.1 cups a day, instead of 3.2 cups. Cheese would go from a monthly maximum of 4 pounds under most plans, to no more than 1 pound.
The recommendations also take into account new cultures and tastes by expanding the selection of produce and whole grains and allowing participants to buy yogurt, tofu or soy instead of milk.
"We said if you don't like bread, you can have brown rice, you can have tortillas," Murphy said.
Under a bill signed by President Bush last year, the Agriculture Department has 18 months from the release of the institute's report to update WIC's food packages.
The committee had to keep its revised food plans in line with the average $35 monthly cost for each participant. Murphy said they did that in part by cutting dairy products high in cholesterol and fat and by discouraging the use of baby formula by making food plans for breast-feeding mothers more attractive.
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