CVS Pharmacy in West Virginia will stop selling several cold medications that have pseudoephedrine.
The pharmacy chain often sold single-ingredient pseudoephedrine under the brand name Sudafed. Walgreen Co. and Rite Aid Corp. in the state both previously stopped selling the same as well. Walgreens has 17 stores in the state. Other pharmacy chains will likely follow suit. The ban is within 15 miles past the border of West Virginia in every direction.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, W.Va.-Dem. lobbied the companies to stop selling these products as another effort to combat methamphetamine abuse in West Virginia, where many meth labs proliferate. Authorities have already seized 207 meth labs in West Virginia in 2014 after having seized 530 meth labs last year; 284 meth labs were recorded in 2012. Mississippi used to have the same problem but it has already improved since lawmakers required that medicines with pseudoephedrine be for prescription only.
There was supposed to be a bill that required a prescription for pseudoephedrine but it did not make the last night of regular session this year after the Senate and House failed to reach an agreement on time.
The prohibition doesn't include Zephrex-D, which is a tamper-resistant medicine with pseudoephedrine as its single ingredient. CVS will continue to sell cold medicines with a combination of pseudoephedrine and other drugs such as pain relievers and antihistamines.
The illicit highly addictive meth use and production continuously increase in the United States. The number of seized meth labs has more than doubled from 2007 to 2010. The rise is in part due to the increase of people using small-batch and cheap method of producing the drug where pseudoephedrine in cold medications over-the-counters is mixed with two liter bottles of regular household items.
"Substance abuse has ravaged West Virginia, and the local production and abuse of methamphetamine has only added to the epidemic," Sen. Machin said. "It is past time that we take strong action to stop this cycle of abuse. CVS's commitment to terminating local sales of single-ingredient pseudoephedrine products will undoubtedly help curb the growth of meth labs and meth abuse."
