Poplar Bluff city council votes to require prescription for pseudoephedrine purchases

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- An ordinance requiring a prescription to purchase products containing pseudoephedrine in Poplar Bluff is the newest weapon in the battle against methamphetamine labs.

Poplar Bluff is the first community in Southeast Missouri and the third one statewide to require a prescription. Washington and Union, both in Franklin County, about 50 miles west of St. Louis, are the other two.

Police chief Danny Whiteley, who requested the prescription requirement, thanked the city council for passing the ordinance Monday night.

"It is an effective tool," Whiteley said. "It will have immediate results."

The change became effective Tuesday.

Whiteley said Washington police reported a 94 percent decrease in the amount of pseudoephedrine purchased in their community after the ordinance was enacted in July.

Council members voted 6-1 to adopt the ordinance after listening to comments from five people.

The ordinance states the council "believes there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare in that the manufacture, transportation, possession and sale of methamphetamine is inherently dangerous."

Council members emphasized the ordinance "will combat the criminal activity associated with the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine in the city, and will not unduly restrict legitimate businesses or customers from selling or buying these products."

Vince Halferty and Ed Crook spoke against the ordinance, while Whiteley, Dr. Chris Montgomery and Dr. Kirby Turner supported it.

"I question the legality of this ordinance," Halferty said. "I don't think it is fair."

Crook expressed concern about all levels of government taking away people's rights.

"There will be a lot of inconvenience for thousands of people," said Crook, who also is concerned about doctors having to handle phone calls for prescriptions while patients are waiting to see them. "It is going to put a hardship on a lot of law-abiding citizens."

"It is our duty to protect children and other citizens," Whiteley said.

"We have seen children whose lives have been altered forever. We have seen the horror of children when they are taken away from their parents who are going to jail. It is worth it to save one child," Whiteley said.

He also is concerned about the danger to police officers in dealing with the chemicals used in the methamphetamine labs.

Montgomery described meth labs and the availability of pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in manufacturing meth, as "a huge problem." He doesn't think the ordinance will prevent anyone from getting a needed cold remedy.

He said he treated 12 patients Monday with cold-related symptoms. He gave a prescription to seven of them so they could obtain an antibiotic and told the other five to obtain symptom relief medication.

"The prescription requirement should never have been removed by the FDA," Turner said. Until 1976, products containing pseudoephedrine were only available by prescription. In 1976, the Drug Enforcement Administration warned the Food and Drug Administration of the possibility of meth labs if pseudoephedrine could be purchased over the counter.

While some people may be inconvenienced, Turner said, the council needs to "consider the greater good for the citizens of Poplar Bluff."

"Eighty percent of the pseudoephedrine is going to the manufacture of methamphetamine," Turner said.

City attorney Wally Duncan said the Washington ordinance was challenged, but a circuit court judge "determined the city had the authority to enact the ordinance."

Duncan also said Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster "determined cities could regulate the sale of pseudoephedrine."

City manager Doug Bagby agreed the ordinance will be "a good tool for law enforcement."

"I agree it will create some hardship. People will have to go to a doctor once a year to obtain a prescription," Bagby said.

Councilman Ed DeGaris, a retired policeman, also spoke in favor of the ordinance.

"This is something we can do. It will be worth it even if we only help one family," DeGaris said.

Councilwoman Susan Williams was the lone dissenter.

"All the people who contacted me asked me to vote against it," Williams said after the meeting. "I am just speaking for the working men and women who are concerned about adding burdens to the doctors."

She also said they were opposed to requiring law abiding, taxpaying citizens to obtain a prescription to purchase a product that had been available over the counter.

The ordinance becomes effective immediately.