ST. LOUIS — State and local officials voiced strong support Tuesday for requiring prescriptions for certain cold medicines used to make methamphetamine.

"There is an increasing consensus that our efforts on this issue ... have not gone far enough," Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said at a news conference at St. Louis City Hall to launch a national meth prevention advertising campaign. "It's time to put ephedrine and pseudoephedrine-based drugs into the prescription category."

Pseudoephedrine, found in products such as Claritin D and Sudafed, is meth's main ingredient.

Koster said he plans to ask law enforcement and prosecuting attorney groups in Missouri to sign letters supporting the idea, to see if the consensus is strong.

If so, Koster said he will approach the state Legislature with his findings in January. Previous proposals to require prescriptions for pseudoephedrine products have failed.

Koster's pledge follows an announcement last week by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a trade group that represents manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter drugs, that it would pay for a statewide database to track pseudoephedrine purchases. The price tag could be over $800,000.

The trade association believes tracking purchases will protect consumer access to the pills while helping police catch those who buy illegal amounts.

But the offer may not be sufficient, cautioned Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He was in St. Louis for the ad campaign announcement.

"The database is only a tiny part of the overall investment," Kerlikowske said. "What law enforcement agency has the resources to follow through on all of the purchases? What county has the resources to prosecute all the cases? … It's like giving all of the St. Louis police officers the name of every person with an unpaid parking ticket and telling them to go out and do something about it."

Kerlikowske said he has spoken to officials in Oregon, the only state to return pseudoephedrine to prescription status. That law took effect in 2006, and the number of meth labs plummeted.

The same cannot be said of states such as Kentucky, which has launched a database to track pill purchases.

Washington, Mo., recently became the only city in the nation to mandate prescriptions. Leaders in neighboring cities and Jefferson County have expressed interest, as well.

"It's worth exploring much more thoroughly what's going on in Oregon," said Kerlikowske.

Kerlikowske met Tuesday with police from St. Louis, the Missouri Highway Patrol and from Jefferson, Franklin and St. Louis counties, as well as the Jefferson County-based Methamphetamine Action Coalition.

U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan promised their voices would help shape the national meth policy because, "Profit centers, for too long, have skewed what our policy should be."

Kerlikowske said the new national ad campaign for meth prevention and treatment will help combat the problem.

"These ads are effective in dispelling the myth that treatment for meth addiction doesn't work," he said.

One of the ads features recovering meth addict Josh Palmer, 32, of Malden, Mo. He said the radio, TV and print ads are worth the money because too often meth addicts don't know there is help for them.

All states will receive money for the ads. Missouri and Illinois are among 16 states with higher rates of meth lab busts targeted to get more advertising dollars. The ads, which promote the website www.methresources.gov, will run from September to November. Next year, nonprofit groups and local governments will be able to use them as public service announcements.

Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer said he believes the campaign will have an impact; he is eager to sign a letter to support Koster's push for legislation.

Boyer said the trade association's offer to pay for a database is an effort to protect profits by delaying prescription laws. Meth addicts can skirt databases by buying legal amounts or paying others to buy pills.

"This isn't about giving the average citizen access to the medicines they need, it's about money," Boyer said. "I think there is movement in this administration to finally tackle this problem head on. How far that movement is going to go? We'll have to wait and see."