Target limits access to cold meds

Marisa O’Neil

If you have the sniffles and go to Target for your cold medicine,

you’ll have to search a little harder for that Sudafed or Nyquil in

the next few months.

Target Corp. on Monday announced that it will pull all medication

containing pseudoephedrine off its store shelves in the next 60 to 90

days and place it behind the pharmacy counter. Pseudoephedrine is a

main component of the illegal drug methamphetamine, which is already

popular in Southern California and proliferating across the country.

“We think it’s the right thing to do to stem the production and

distribution of methamphetamines in our communities,” Target

spokeswoman Lena Michaud said Monday.

The company has one store in Newport-Mesa at 3030 Harbor Blvd. in

Costa Mesa.

Minnesota-based Target is the first national corporation to

voluntarily remove the medicines from their shelves, according to a

company press release. Stores may place cards with information about

the products on shelves so customers can compare them before going to

the pharmacist to request them, Michaud said.

Methamphetamine acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system.

Its popularity has grown and its use is spreading east from

California because it is relatively cheap and easy to manufacture,

Costa Mesa Sgt. Mike Ginther said.

“A lot of meth goes through Costa Mesa,” Ginther said. “It’s one

of the primary illicit drugs we seize now.”

Restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine-based medications has long

been discussed in the pharmacy industry, local pharmacists said.

“It’s been a topic of debate for a long time,” said George

Kridner, vice president of pharmacy operations at Via Lido Drugs in

Newport Beach. “We’ve never had a problem here. But there can be a

lot of problems with those drugs.”

Via Lido Drugs does not keep its cold medicines and decongestants

behind the pharmacy counter, Kridner said. But it does keep limited

stock on the shelves, which is placed so employees can keep an eye on

it.

“I’m not surprised the major chains would do it,” Kridner said of

Target’s move. “Their over-the-counter sections are a lot more

available. At our store, if a teenager comes in with six friends and

they buy a box each -- if we have six kids asking for Sudafed, we

know it’s a problem.”

Those are the kinds of things the Orange County Meth Watch Program

wants people to know. The county-funded program helps educate

retailers about pseudoephedrine’s illegal application and how to

limit such use, said Kara Birch, a health educator with the program.

Police officials and some retailers, like Stater Bros., are taking

steps to make it harder to buy or steal large quantities of

pseudoephedrine, she said.

“They’re putting signage up, limiting the product [on the

shelves], educating staff and giving them red flags, like someone

trying to buy more than the legal limit .”

It’s illegal to sell more than three boxes or medicine containing

more than nine grams of pseudoephedrine in one transaction.

Methamphetamine labs can use as little as two or three boxes to

produce a small batch or as much as 60 pounds of pills to produce a

large quantity, Ginther said.

Manufacturing the drug presents its own hazards because it uses a

potentially volatile combination of chemicals and produces hazardous

waste, Ginther said.

“There’s a lot of damage done by these labs,” he said.