PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Buyers of pseudoephedrine products are driving up sales in Perryville now that Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff, Mo., require a doctor's prescription for the cold and sinus medication, according to state and local narcotics officers.
Sales have nearly tripled at Walmart, the city's most popular pharmacy, since November. Authorities say it's not a coincidence and believe at least 80 percent of the sales are for manufacturing of methamphetamine.
"What we're seeing is those individuals making the drive aren't using the pseudoephedrine to treat medical problems," said Jason Grellner, Missouri Narcotics Officers Association vice president. "It's not those people [with colds] that are willing to make the drive."
In January, according to a statewide database tracking sales of the methamphetamine precursor, Perryville's Walmart sold 1,366 boxes of the medication, compared to 471 in November and 819 in December. Perryville police chief Keith Tarrillion said he understood the store sold its limit in January and ranked No. 5 in Missouri for pseudoephedrine sales for the month.
"During the last week of the month, there were no more pseudoephedrine packages available," he said. "That's the first time that's happened here at the Walmart."
A Walmart pharmacy day manager declined to comment for this article.
Adding the city's three other pharmacies, including Walgreens, Tarrillion said, a total of 2,100 boxes of medications such as Sudafed or Claritin D were sold in Perryville in January.
A unanimous vote Tuesday night by the Perryville City Council to make pseudoephedrine available only with a prescription could help curb the problem in the city, Tarrillion said. The ordinance will be effective April 1.
"I've been against the ordinance for a long time; innocent people are always going to pay the price for those who don't want to follow the law," Tarrillion said. "Seeing the increase in numbers, I don't feel like we have a choice. We have to take this step, unfortunately."
As law enforcement became aware of the increase in sales locally, Perryville police teamed with the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and the Perry County Sheriff's Department and placed narcotics officers at the area around Walmart, hoping to identify and arrest those purchasing pseudoephedrine for manufacturing purposes.
Tarrillion said in four stings over three weeks more than 50 people have been arrested for possession of the precursor drug.
"We're just touching the tip of the iceberg, too. There's still so much more to do," he said.
Kevin Glaser, drug task force supervisor, said in the arrests his agency assisted in, the majority of the people who showed identification were not from Perry County. Some of the arrests led to additional felony drug charges. Some people were wanted in other Missouri counties, Glaser said.
"It's a criminal element coming into Perryville now, and they're purchasing pseudoephedrine to make meth," he said. "That's all they're there for."
The same increase in sales was noted by law enforcement when Cape Girardeau hadn't yet passed an ordinance requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine medications late 2010.
Just more than a month before the ordinance was passed, the Cape Girardeau Walgreens logged 2,389 pseudoephedrine box sales, the most in the state compared to other pharmacies connected to the state's electronic monitoring system. By comparison, the Walgreens in January honored 20 to 30 prescriptions for pseudoephedrine, according to Glaser, who said he'd talked to a pharmacist recently at the store.
Grellner said the same activity was noted in Crawford County, Mo., where a Walmart store's sales increased almost 200 boxes a month after Sullivan, Mo., passed a prescription-only ordinance for pseudoephedrine.
Two Walmart stores in Joplin, Mo., rank No. 1 and No. 3 for pseudoephedrine sales in January. Both stores sold more than 1,500 boxes of the medication.
"That is probably going to be ranked the second- or third-highest for number of meth labs in the state. They have consistently been in the top five in the last decade," Grellner said.
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