Sikeston City Council votes to make meth ingredient available by prescription only

-- Council members unanimously approved a bill requiring a prescription for the purchase of pseudoephedrine products during the regular Sikeston City Council meeting Monday.

"Right now, I don't see any other way to combat (meth)," said Mayor Jerry Pullen.

Department of Public Safety chief Drew Juden noted the participants in the Youth in Government Day mock city council "passed it overwhelmingly" in February after hearing details about the issue.

Juden said last year in Sikeston a total of nine methamphetamine arrests were made and one meth lab was busted. After only four months, there are already 23 arrests and nine meth labs found in the city this year.

"This problem is growing," he said. "This is leaving a mark on our community."

Two "rolling meth labs" resulted in explosions here recently, Juden noted.

This ordinance will help address the problem here as "you can not make methamphetamine without pseudoephedrine," he said, and those who manufacture meth almost always cook it up in close proximity to where they get the pseudoephedrine pills.

Juden said local pharmacists who were sent a draft of the proposal and asked to provide comment are in favor of the ordinance. "The pharmacists didn't want to be the police," he said.

Mike Tullis of Super-D wrote in his response that he is "excited" about the ordinance.

"We are bombarded on a daily basis by suspicious-looking characters requesting 24-hour Sudafed, the most potent," Tullis wrote. "I will be glad to see this problem go away or relocate."

Ernie Moxey of The Medicine Shoppe noted in his written response that he had "already enacted a personal policy requiring a prescription for all ephedrine-based products as of February 2010 for patients in my pharmacy. Before doing this, we were confronted several times a day by 'shoppers' seeking pseudoephedrine which we were turning away. This was getting a little tenuous it seemed as the shoppers were becoming more and more aggressive."

Ken Seiler of Medical Arts Pharmacy advised in his response that his pharmacy had also stopped selling over-the-counter products with pseudoephedrine about six months ago "except to customers that have a prescription history with us and are well known by us."

Ronnie Hamra of the Medicap Pharmacy agreed this ordinance will "greatly reduce the illegal use of pseudo-ephedrine products" in his response.

Hamra did add: "The down side would be for the physicians who would have an increase in the number of people seeking prescriptions for pseudoephedrine. It would put the burden on the physician to determine who had a legitimate need for the medication."

A citizen who did not identify herself pointed out it will increase the cost for residents as they must see a doctor to get a prescription.

"The doctor may just do it over the phone," Juden suggested of the prescriptions.

Juden also noted this ordinance only affects about 15 products. "There are still 100 other options out there if you have a runny nose that you can buy," he said.

Under the provisions of the ordinance, the purchase of ephedrine products requires the purchaser to present a prescription issued by a physician or other healthcare professional licensed by the state. The prescription can only be filled by a Missouri-licensed pharmacist.

Theft, disappearance or loss of ephedrine products products by a pharmacy must be reported to Sikeston DPS within 24 hours of discovery.

Any difference in the quantity shipped to a pharmacy and the actual quantity received must be reported to DPS within 24 hours of discovery.

Each violation is considered a separate offense.

The ordinance as approved included an amendment suggested by Councilman Tom Hedrick: a sunset provision of one year.

After being in effect for a year, council members will then review the ordinance "to make sure it is working," Hedrick said.

"This is not a Sikeston problem," Juden said, but "a national epidemic."