Drug industry favors Missouri's pseudoephedrine database over governor's call to require prescriptions

Some leaders in the pharmaceutical industry expressed their disappointment Wednesday in Gov. Jay Nixon's recent announcement regarding pseudoephedrine, instead favoring a state database already in place to block sales of the drug.

In a series of visits Tuesday, Nixon announced he'd like Missouri to become the third state in the country to require a doctor's prescription to purchase medications such as Sudafed, Claritin-D and Advil Cold and Sinus, which all contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in manufacturing methamphetamine.

According to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, in just two months, and with less than half of Missouri's pharmacies connected to the tracking database, the system has blocked the sale of more than 18,000 grams of pseudoephedrine.

Because the database has only been online a short time, representatives from CHPA and the Missouri Pharmacy Association say Nixon hasn't given the initiative a chance to prove its worth.

"If the tracking system has time to work, we'll start seeing less purchases and more busts," Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy owner Kevin Teegarden said.

The tracking database is sophisticated, Teegarden said, and, given the opportunity to be fully implemented, could be another tool for law enforcement. Requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine is only a burden for consumers, he said.

A visit to a "quickie clinic," he said, could cost a patient up to $50 and alternative sinus medications just don't clear the nasal passages like pseudoephedrine.

"When used properly, pseudoephedrine is a very, very good drug. It dries you up and really takes care of sinus problems," Teegarden said.

Mandy Hagan, CHPA's director of state government relations, added that a visit to the doctor could be even more costly for someone paid by the hour who misses work or who has to get their child to a day care center while getting a prescription.

When using the system, pharmacists plug in a buyer's name, date of birth and ask for their signature. The intention is to prevent people from buying more than the maximum amount of pseudoephedrine allowed by law.

If a person attempts to buy more than the limit, the system will block the purchase at any pharmacy connected to the database. If used regularly by authorities, Hagan said, it would provide them the probable cause they need to catch manufacturers and "smurfers" -- traffickers hired to acquire large quantities of precursor chemicals.

"If you get pseudoephedrine by filling a prescription, it leaves a huge hole in law enforcement," Teegarden said. "You lose tracking capability."

Ron Fitzwater, CEO of the Missouri Pharmacy Association, said pharmacies have been in support of a tracking system since 2005 and that they've put in a lot of effort to see that legislation got passed to make the database effective.

With the governor's announcement, Fitzwater said, all the work seems to have had no effect.

"They've been lobbied very heavily from law enforcement," Fitzwater said, referring to the governor's office. "To just look at it as a pure law enforcement issue is going to be wrong for the state of Missouri."

ehevern@semissourian.com

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