Eureka first in St. Louis County to adopt anti-meth law

The Eureka Board of Aldermen voted on Feb. 16 to require prescriptions for purchases of pseudoephedrine products. Eureka is the first municipality in St. Louis County to require written prescriptions for the decongestant that doubles as methamphetamine's main ingredient.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration statistics show that Missouri annually has far more meth lab incidents than any other state. In fact, two years ago, more than twice as many meth-related seizures occurred in Missouri as in Indiana, the No. 2 ranked state for meth incidents. According to the Missouri Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control statistics, a total of 1,774 meth laboratory incidents were reported in the state during 2009. The figure includes all chemical, equipment and glassware seizures, operational laboratories, and dumpsites that were confiscated last year.

Eureka Police Chief Mike Wiegand said that when the cities of Union and Washington, Mo., filed the same type of prescription bill this fall, the amount of pseudoephedrine products purchased at the Eureka-based WalMart and Walgreens quickly rose by at least 8 percent.

"Pseudoephedrines were already behind the pharmacy counters, but the new suspicious factors seen in Eureka were brought to the attention of our aldermen and Drug Task Force members," Wiegand said.

He said that from checking files, police detectives knew that people were purchasing the maximum amount of pseudoephedrine products individuals can buy, and also were purchasing from various places on any given day.

"Customers must show identification, and pharmacists are required to record who is purchasing the products,” Wiegand said. “We check the records on a regular basis and cross-reference with local narcotic units."

Wiegand said a recent sales record for pseudoephedrine products purchased during one day in January at the WalMart in Eureka indicated that 13 of the 17 purchases involved people from nearby counties who were involved in meth-related investigations.

Officers also found remnants of meth labs dumped along Eureka area roads, including Hwy. 109, in the past few months. Wiegand said meth-related issues had not been the case in the area during prior years.

"This problem popped up in the last six months," Eureka Mayor Kevin Coffey said.

Coffey said Eureka's "prime shopping area along the I-44 corridor" made it painfully obvious that suspects were purchasing methamphetamine-oriented products there.

"Our board is conservative and doesn't like the idea of government intrusion into people's lives, but due to the weight of this particular problem, we felt it was necessary to take action," Coffey said. "Reaction to the prescription bill has been very positive. Several pharmacists are relieved because it gives them more control of the situation and strengthens their ability to monitor dispensing. They are overjoyed, in fact. The circumstances that pharmacists face were a major reason the board made the decision they did about this new rule."

Coffey said there had been promises from the pharmaceutical industry to establish better product sales monitoring systems, but that the concept had been discussed for several years.

"We had a problem here and now, and felt we had to act on behalf of the safety of our residents as well as for the overall good of the community," Coffey said.

Coffey said the goal is to keep Eureka a good place for families to live.

"This meth-related problem touched very close to home," Coffey said.

He said the city became the seventh local government in Missouri to pass a prescription law. Other cities in the state with the law include Poplar Bluff, Kennett, Farmington and Desloge.

Other West County municipalities are beginning to contemplate similar options. Town & Country Administrator John Copeland said he is aware of the pseudoephedrine situation and "is watching it carefully."

Some Missourians advocate for a statewide prescription-only law for pseudoephedrine products. Nanci Gonder, spokesperson for the state attorney general's office, said a survey was sent to county prosecutors to solicit their views about a potential statewide prescription-only law.

"A total of 96 of Missouri's 115 county prosecutors signed a petition supporting the concept of making over-the-counter pseudoephedrine sales available by prescription only," Gonder said.

Gonder said that while the state attorney general office has not taken an official stance on the matter, the information is being provided to the Missouri General Assembly.

Critics of such a law include certain drug- and medical-related associations, whose members say they believe such laws make it more difficult and expensive for those who are ill to get relief.