For nine years, Jason Grellner has tried to persuade the Missouri State Legislature to pass a state law requiring residents to have a doctor's prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine, the key chemical needed to create methamphetamine or "meth."

Grellner has not yet met with success.

"The pharmaceutical lobby is very strong in Jefferson City," said Grellner, a detective sergeant with the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit. "You're fighting a billion-dollar industry that makes a lot of money off this drug."

Grellner has remained persistent for those nine years. He has led a campaign on a county-by-county and city-by-city basis, persuading local governments to regulate the sale of products containing pseudoephedrine.

Pseudoephedrine is used to relieve nasal congestion for colds, flu, allergies and hay fever. It is an active ingredient found in more than 700 over-the-counter products with names like Sudafed, Actifed, Advil Flu & Body Ache, and Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine and Tylenol Allergy and Sinus.

Grellner emphasized there is no movement to ban its sale. The intent is to make it harder for makers of meth to obtain it.

"It's a slow process, but we believe these laws are the best way to stop this problem," he said.

Local versus statewide

Jefferson, Franklin, St. Charles and Washington counties and municipalities within them have passed laws requiring a prescription for the purchase of pseudoephedrine.

St. Louis County has not passed any such law. The pro-prescription campaign continues city by city.

However, some police officers and residents say a state law is the only effective tool.

"Right now, all they're doing is making it tougher on the good guys," Fenton resident Tom Weber said. "The bad guys will find a way to buy (pseudoephedrine). They can't keep doing this city by city. People will just go somewhere else to buy it. If they make it statewide and clamp down, I can understand that."

St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch shares that view.

"If we pass a county law, it would just be for unincorporated areas," Fitch sad. "People can go into other cities or into St. Louis to buy it. Local laws are a fix for that community, but it doesn't solve the overall problem."

As the county police chief, he travels to other police departments in the U.S. Oregon and Mississippi have passed state laws for prescription sales.

"They've worked very well in those states," Fitch said.

In west county, Ellisville, Eureka, Pacific and Wildwood have passed laws requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine. No prescription law is on the horizon for St. Louis County as a whole, said 7th District County Councilman Greg Quinn, who represents West County.

"I've never heard anybody discuss it, at least at the public level," Quinn said. "If more municipalities go ahead with these laws, the county would probably have to look at it."

Fenton comes into play

For Grellner, Fenton is the next target.

On Feb. 2, the city's aldermanic board may look at the first draft of a prescription law. If approved, the board could vote on it at its Feb. 23 meeting. Grellner has talked several times to the board.

Fenton is located in St. Louis County on its border with Jefferson County and not far from Franklin County.

Jefferson County and Franklin County are ranked first and second respectively in Missouri for the production of methamphetamine according to data gathered by the Drug Enforcement Agency, Grellner said. St. Louis County is ranked eighth.

Because of proximity those Jefferson and Franklin counties, Fenton is a key city for meth producers to purchase pseudoephedrine.

The Walgreens and Wal-Mart pharmacies at Gravois Bluffs and the Walgreens on Bowles Avenue are in the top 10 for pseudoephedrine sales in Missouri. These statistics come from NPLEx, a database run by the National Association of Drug Diversion, which tracks pseudoephedrine sales throughout the country, Grellner said. The database is accessed only by law enforcement personnel.

Information in the NPLEx database is provided by pharmacies like Walgreens, which collect information from people purchasing pseudoephedrine products. State law limits the amount of such products a person can purchase to one box per day and four boxes within 30 days.

However, the limits can be circumvented by a process those in law enforcement call 'smurfing." Instead of one or two people buying cold products, the meth producer finds as many purchasers as possible to buy the maximum amount of pseudoephedrine.

"It used to be four guys could buy 100 boxes each," Grellner said. "Now 100 smurfs buy four boxes each."

Grellner said a box of pseudoephedrine can be sold for $100 on average on the black market. He said the purchase would cost $10 to $11 at a pharmacy.

The burden of prescriptions

Laws requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine face opposition from people who feel they shouldn't need a doctor's prescription to purchase an over-the-counter drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Pseudoephedrine is a very effective medication, said Jim Gwinner, vice-president with K-Global, a lobbyist group that represents the makers of over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements.

"Everyone wants to address the problem of illegal drug use," Gwinner said. "This isn't the way to do it. It burdens the people."

Richard Lober, 89, of Fenton, said he worries about the added expense of seeing a doctor to obtain a prescription for pseudoephedrine.

"I would object to that," Lober said. "I think it's better the way it is."

"I can see both sides of the issue," Fenton resident Thomas Suermann, 26, said. "I'm a guy who believes in freedom, but I don't like seeing (pseudoephedrine) used for making drugs. It's a tough call, but I say no to getting a prescription."

Prescriptions could be a greater burden for low-income people, many of whom do not have a primary doctor, said Joy B. Krieger, executive director of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America-St. Louis Chapter. The organization provides uninsured and under-insured children with asthma and allergy medications, equipment, education and support.

"Unless you know a physician, you just won't get a prescription that easily," she said.

Pseudoephedrine is the drug of choice for people with asthma or allergies when they have a cold, Krieger said. For those with allergies, it is sometimes used year-round, she said.

"It's the best for so many people," Krieger said.

Laurie Ball, 45, does not use any pseudoephedrine products. She believes the prescription law is a good idea. For her, it can be easy to get a prescription.

"However, if I did use Sudafed, I probably would have a different opinion," she said.

The battle continues

Whatever the obstacles, Grellner believes prescription laws are necessary for public safety.

Meth labs are explosive and can blow up in a neighborhood or even in a car. If a property owner rents out a house that was used to produce meth, it has to be cleaned up, costing thousands of dollars.

People who use meth or produce it also commit other crimes.

"They commit burglaries and break into cars," Grellner said. "You don't want to have those kind of people coming into your neighborhood."

Fitch is sympathetic to people on both sides of the prescription law issue. However, he and other police officers have seen the effects of meth, physically and emotionally.

"It's killing people and tearing families apart," he said.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify comments from Joy Krieger.