WASHINGTON, Mo. — Sales of decongestants containing pseudoephedrine — the key ingredient for making methamphetamine — have plummeted in Washington since a city ordinance began requiring prescriptions.

It's a sign of success, say Washington officials, whose position also has been buoyed by an opinion from Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster that their law is legal.

Washington was the first city in the nation to require prescriptions for what everywhere else was an over-the-counter product.

"We just thought it was the right thing to do, but if it's doing what the numbers show, that's really encouraging," said Mayor Dick Stratman.

Sales of the select cold and allergy products among Washington's stores decreased by an average of 92.9 percent in the three months after the law took effect July 7. That is according to figures collected by pharmacies in accordance with federal law and shared with the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

From a similar period, April 1 through July 7, Washington's five commercial pharmacies sold about 4,400 boxes of the decongestant in the town of about 13,000. The number dropped to 310 from July 7 and Sept. 30.

No one can say how many of the lost sales would have been used to cook methamphetamine.

But pharmacists at a large chain store in Washington told the Post-Dispatch that sales of alternative decongestants did not rise proportionately to the drop in pseudoephedrine sales. They said most local doctors were phoning in prescriptions without requiring office visits.

Schnucks spokesman Paul Simon described the increase in sales of alternative products as "slight."


"It's not been an issue among our customers either way," Simon said.

Authorities suspected that sales may rise at drugstores just beyond reach of the law.

But it didn't happen.

Not at Walmart, at least, which figures show to be the most popular choice for psuedoephedrine buyers.

Sales dropped an average of 1.3 percent at Walmart stores in surrounding towns during the same period.

The nearest store is in Union, about five miles south of Washington. There, sales declined by 0.5 percent. (The town has since passed a prescription law of its own, effective Oct. 13.)

There was one exception: Eureka. Sales increased about 8 percent at its Walmart, which is about 25 miles east of Washington and along the route leading to the greatest concentration of pharmacies in the state: St. Louis County.

"Criminals are lazy, and they're creatures of habit," said Franklin County Sgt. Jason Grellner. "We anticipate a shift in buying patterns to the east."

Should the prediction come true, Sgt. Tom Murley of the St. Louis County police say they're ready.

There, police have seized about 16 meth labs so far this year and don't expect to reach the 27 labs they busted last year. It has been two months since the last one — the longest the county has gone in 10 years, Murley said.

Murley credits a database that tracks pill purchases in the county's 200-plus pharmacies, and the muscle to put it to use.

"We have four people investigating and using the database to locate individuals within the county, and we're probably the only police department that has that across the country," Murley said.

Murley said other narcotics units juggle other drug problems besides monitoring pseudoephedrine sales.

"If no one is looking at it, or blocking sales, why even have it?" Murley asked.

Murley believes Missouri should give a statewide database a chance to prove itself before enacting a prescription law.

Past pushes for a statewide prescription law have failed, but legislators have vowed to try again.

Koster, the attorney general, voiced his support for a prescription law this year. So far, his office has collected supportive signatures from 96 of the state's 114 prosecutors, and is now checking with sheriffs.

It's likely the state will launch a database before a prescription law is passed.

Last year, the Legislature required pharmacies to report pseudoephedrine sales to a statewide database. But the plan was never funded.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a pharmaceutical trade group, recently offered to pay for the $800,000 system for Missouri, and for other states with database laws.

In 2005, Oklahoma was the first to launch a statewide system and saw a decline in meth lab busts until this year. A legislator from Tulsa — where raids jumped to 237 so far this year, compared with 43 in 2008 — has vowed to propose a prescription bill there during the next legislative session, according to the Tulsa World.

Police say criminals avoid database detection by using groups, with each member purchasing below the legal limit, and by using fake identifications.

But lobbying groups, including the Missouri Retailer's Association, Missouri Pharmacist's Association and Missouri Medical Association, still prefer the database approach. They say requiring prescriptions punishes legitimate consumers for the actions of a few.

Grellner argues Washington's sales figures prove the pool of legitimate users is small.

"These are the numbers that the industry hopes we never get our hands on because they say the vast majority of pills are going to legitimate consumers, and they're lying," Grellner said.

The Consumer Healthcare Product Association complained that the Washington sales figures covered a short period, and not in the cold or allergy season.

The group said sales data from Oregon — the only state to require prescriptions — show the amount of pseudoephedrine purchased in neighboring states by Oregon residents at selected pharmacies multiplied by six.

"Based on the fact that Oregon's meth labs are at a record low, it is clear that these purchasers are legitimate consumers who still want and need convenient access to pseudoephedrine," association spokeswoman Virginia Cox said in an e-mail.

Grellner argued that it's not the case locally, because Washington's law didn't cause a jump in sales in nearby Union.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri has threatened to file a lawsuit challenging such municipal ordinances as contradictory to federal and state laws. ACLU attorney Tony Rothert did not return calls seeking comment on Koster's opinion.

In it, Koster said he believes that federal laws do not prevent state and local governments from further regulating pseudoephedrine, and that a local prescription law "merely enlarges on state law."

The opinion, which does not have the force of law, also says that charter counties, and cities that have included a general police power in their charters or constitutions, have the authority to pass prescription laws.

Jefferson County executives plan to vote on one Nov. 2.

Stratman said he now expects prescription laws to spread. "I understand why some communities have been reluctant to jump in too early and wanted to see the attorney general's opinion," he said. "Hopefully now what happened in Washington will happen all over."