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Fighting Meth: Willcox is 5th city in Arizona to restrict sale of cold medicines
By CAROL BROEDER/Arizona Range News
Willcox is now the fifth city in Arizona to enact a new law to track sales of pseudoephedrine, the over-the-counter cold medication required in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
At its Dec. 19 meeting, the City Council unanimously approved the law with an emergency clause, making it effective immediately.
"This is a very important first step," Police Chief Jake Weaver told the council after the vote.
Prior to the vote, Mayor Mick Easthouse read a poem "given to me by the mother of a boy who's on meth," he said.
"I have heard nothing but positives on this particular ordinance," Easthouse said.
Councilman Woody Johnson commended Weaver and the local meth task force.
"I just want to say that I think it's very proactive what we're doing as far as this ordinance goes," he said. "What we're going to do is prohibit the drug dealers who actually come here and treat Willcox as a base for getting the ingredients."
The city's new law will track the purchase of pseudoephedrine within city limits.
Retailers will be required to keep all products containing these ingredients "behind the counter in an area protected and not accessible to customers without sales personnel assistance."
"The intent is to require controlled access to the products by potential purchases," the law states.
Those purchasing the products are required to provide the sales person with current government-issued photo identification, which includes a name and address.
Acceptable photo I.D., the law says, includes a current driver's license or picture identification issued by Arizona or any other state government, a current passport, a current tribal identification card, or a current military identification card.
Retailers are also required to keep a written record of all sales of the products containing the restricted ingredients.
"The written record shall contain the name, address, and type of photo identification used... to confirm identification of the person purchasing or taking possession of the products..." the law states.
The record must also include the date and time of the sale, the name and quantity of the product sold, and the name of the salesperson who sold the product.
Businesses are required to keep the written records for one calendar year from the date of sale.
They are also required to send, by paper or electronically, a copy of the records to the city's police chief by the 10th day of each month.
The records must also "be available for review or reproduction by law enforcement " at any time during the year," the law states.
Retailers may not sell to any one person more than three packages, "and/or any quantity of product containing more than nine grams of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine and/or phenylpropanolamine, without a valid prescription, during any calendar day."
Donna Tryon, office manager with Safeway, said that the store already keeps the products "under lock and key."
Customers take a card from the shelf where the medication would be and bring it to the cashier, or they may also ask for the product, she said.
"We have to get it for you, just like the cigarettes," said Tryon.
Already, it is programmed that the store's "computers will beep and tell us when you've bought your limit," she said.
Corporate headquarters instructed the local Safeway "to pull the products off our shelves about two or three months ago, when they realized it was being used to make drugs," Tryon said.
"Most of the over-the-counter pseudophedrine is now in our pharmacy or behind the service desk already. We have to look at what else might be needed to follow this ordinance, but we've already been aware of the meth concerns these past two years, so it's common practice already here to be aware of the problem," said Scott Collins, store manager for Bob's IGA.
"Police have already been making us aware of it for sometime now. We'll put our top sellers (forms of pseudoephedrine) behind the service desk, where it will always available during our regular hours," Collins said. "The tablet forms of pseudoephedrine are what we really have our eyes on. But we also keep tabs of other products the police are concerned with, including propane tanks, portable Bunsen burners, Drano, flour sifters, and other baking items, including scrapers and spatulas."
"Congratulations! Developing a city ordinance specifically to deal with the issue of meth is a bold statement and one you can be proud of," Chris Cronberg, chief executive officer of Northern Cochise Community Hospital, said in a letter to the council.
"I encourage each of you to stay the course and pass this ordinance," he said. "Cutting off the supply of ingredients used to produce meth is a big step in the right direction."
"Your support of the local meth task force chaired by Dr. (Dawn) Walker is also appreciated," Cronberg said in his Dec. 12 letter. "We can make an impact with education and community awareness. As Dr. Walker has indicated - it is an issue in healthcare - both in the clinics and in the emergency room."
(Editor's Note: Steve Reno contributed to this article)
At its Dec. 19 meeting, the City Council unanimously approved the law with an emergency clause, making it effective immediately.
"This is a very important first step," Police Chief Jake Weaver told the council after the vote.
Prior to the vote, Mayor Mick Easthouse read a poem "given to me by the mother of a boy who's on meth," he said.
"I have heard nothing but positives on this particular ordinance," Easthouse said.
Councilman Woody Johnson commended Weaver and the local meth task force.
"I just want to say that I think it's very proactive what we're doing as far as this ordinance goes," he said. "What we're going to do is prohibit the drug dealers who actually come here and treat Willcox as a base for getting the ingredients."
The city's new law will track the purchase of pseudoephedrine within city limits.
Retailers will be required to keep all products containing these ingredients "behind the counter in an area protected and not accessible to customers without sales personnel assistance."
"The intent is to require controlled access to the products by potential purchases," the law states.
Those purchasing the products are required to provide the sales person with current government-issued photo identification, which includes a name and address.
Acceptable photo I.D., the law says, includes a current driver's license or picture identification issued by Arizona or any other state government, a current passport, a current tribal identification card, or a current military identification card.
Retailers are also required to keep a written record of all sales of the products containing the restricted ingredients.
"The written record shall contain the name, address, and type of photo identification used... to confirm identification of the person purchasing or taking possession of the products..." the law states.
The record must also include the date and time of the sale, the name and quantity of the product sold, and the name of the salesperson who sold the product.
Businesses are required to keep the written records for one calendar year from the date of sale.
They are also required to send, by paper or electronically, a copy of the records to the city's police chief by the 10th day of each month.
The records must also "be available for review or reproduction by law enforcement " at any time during the year," the law states.
Retailers may not sell to any one person more than three packages, "and/or any quantity of product containing more than nine grams of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine and/or phenylpropanolamine, without a valid prescription, during any calendar day."
Donna Tryon, office manager with Safeway, said that the store already keeps the products "under lock and key."
Customers take a card from the shelf where the medication would be and bring it to the cashier, or they may also ask for the product, she said.
"We have to get it for you, just like the cigarettes," said Tryon.
Already, it is programmed that the store's "computers will beep and tell us when you've bought your limit," she said.
Corporate headquarters instructed the local Safeway "to pull the products off our shelves about two or three months ago, when they realized it was being used to make drugs," Tryon said.
"Most of the over-the-counter pseudophedrine is now in our pharmacy or behind the service desk already. We have to look at what else might be needed to follow this ordinance, but we've already been aware of the meth concerns these past two years, so it's common practice already here to be aware of the problem," said Scott Collins, store manager for Bob's IGA.
"Police have already been making us aware of it for sometime now. We'll put our top sellers (forms of pseudoephedrine) behind the service desk, where it will always available during our regular hours," Collins said. "The tablet forms of pseudoephedrine are what we really have our eyes on. But we also keep tabs of other products the police are concerned with, including propane tanks, portable Bunsen burners, Drano, flour sifters, and other baking items, including scrapers and spatulas."
"Congratulations! Developing a city ordinance specifically to deal with the issue of meth is a bold statement and one you can be proud of," Chris Cronberg, chief executive officer of Northern Cochise Community Hospital, said in a letter to the council.
"I encourage each of you to stay the course and pass this ordinance," he said. "Cutting off the supply of ingredients used to produce meth is a big step in the right direction."
"Your support of the local meth task force chaired by Dr. (Dawn) Walker is also appreciated," Cronberg said in his Dec. 12 letter. "We can make an impact with education and community awareness. As Dr. Walker has indicated - it is an issue in healthcare - both in the clinics and in the emergency room."
(Editor's Note: Steve Reno contributed to this article)
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