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New law restricting Sudafed takes effect
Sudafed, an ingredient in speed, limited to two boxes per customer
By Ashley Eldridge
Cold and allergy sufferers in Texas will now have to look beyond the local supermarket to find a quick fix.
A bill governing the sale of pseudoephedrine went into effect Tuesday as a reactionary measure to the recent spate of methamphetamine lab busts. It follows a 2004 Oklahoma Sudafed ban that sent many "cookers" south to seek supplies. Senate Bill 107, authored by state Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, prohibits the sale of more than two boxes per person of Sudafed - the main ingredient in methamphetamine - at pharmacies and requires documentation of all transactions. Over-the-counter drug retailers such as convenience stores and supermarkets are banned from selling the drug altogether, unless they have a licensed pharmacy on the premises. UT-area merchants have been working to make sure they are in compliance with the new regulations; each violation can result in a $1,000 fine. University Health Services has had to replace the starch-based tablets in its "cold kits" with the gel caplet "nonabusable form" of Sudafed. The shelves at the UHS pharmacy now bear the laminated box fronts of popular cold medicines such as Sudafed, Tylenol and Claritin where boxes of the drugs once stood, along with a sign reading "All products containing Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) must now be requested from out cashiers and a log must be signed." A similar statement greets consumers at CVS Pharmacy; 7-Eleven has taken it off the shelves altogether. Consumers wishing to purchase the "banned" drugs must speak to a pharmacy employee and fill out a detailed form before heading home with no more than two boxes of the decongestant, although Chuck Roper, a health education coordinator at the Student Health Center, said the feasibility of keeping tabs on all of the tablets is impractical. "It would be an accounting nightmare for the state," he said. Roper said this measure is just another step in the war on drugs. "When I was younger, they did the same thing with airplane glue; a few years later, they put aerosol paint cans in a locked box," he said. "Does that prevent young people from huffing spray paint? No." The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.
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