Sudafed to be sold without meth ingredient
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Pfizer, the maker of Sudafed, has announced Sudafed PE will go on sale in the United States in February. Sudafed PE will not contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the production of meth.
“It will help our meth problem quite a bit,” said Potter. “Making meth with ephedrine is the method that’s most popular around here. If you take the ephedrine away, there’s no question it’s going to be more difficult.”
Sudafed PE contains the active ingredient phenylephrine, which can’t be converted to meth. It’s been in Pfizer products sold overseas since 2003, prompting criticism from some Tennessee officials that Pfizer has moved too slowly in altering its U.S. product while being well aware of its association with meth.
“We have a lot of questions about why this product was not introduced sooner in Tennessee and look forward to hearing the reasons why,” said Will Pinkston, an aide to Gov. Phil Bredesen.
Said Potter, “When it comes to getting these items off the shelves, it comes down to the profits these pharmaceutical companies are making. That and the fact there are legitimate purposes for ephedrine such as helping people with colds and allergies.”
With Sudafed being sold at a number of Warren County stores, local law enforcement officials have taken steps to ensure it’s purchased only in small quantities. Several supermarkets have taken Sudafed off shelves and require customers to ask for the product at the pharmacy or checkout line. The stores that have failed to restrict access to Sudafed have been monitored.
The most prominent case of police cracking down on the sale of meth-making products came last year when convenience store employees Lester Land and Gary Dodson were arrested. Land received 21 years in federal prison for his role in the providing meth ingredients to meth-cookers, while Dodson received three years.
Passing federal regulations on the sale of products containing pseudoephedrine have been largely fruitless.
“It requires a lot to get Congress to do anything because of the lobbyists who work for the pharmaceutical companies,” said Potter.
It’s with that in mind the Tennessee General Assembly has considered legislation of its own. Oklahoma took that approach and saw meth lab seizures fall more than 80 percent in less than a year. Bredesen has said he would like a similar law in Tennessee, which leads the nation in meth lab seizures and accounts for three-quarters of such busts in the South.
The fact Oklahoma has enacted regulations and Tennessee is considering such measures has some officials saying Pfizer doesn’t care about the meth problem, only its profits. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Laymon of Chattanooga, who prosecutes meth abusers, said the timing of Sudafed PE “raises a whole host of questions as to why the pharmaceutical companies didn’t move on this sooner. It seems fairly clear that Sudafed as a brand is a cash cow for Pfizer.”
Between October 2003 and August 2004, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration busted about 1,200 meth labs in the state, a nearly 400 percent increase from 2000. Also, Tennessee removed an estimated 750 children from the custody of meth abusers last year, up from 2003.
In Warren County, a safe estimate is a meth lab is discovered at least once a week.
Associated Press reporter Bill Poovey contributed to this story.