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  1. What is methamphetamine?
  2. How is methamphetamine produced?
  3. What is the connection between methamphetamine and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines?
  4. What are the legitimate OTC uses for pseudoephedrine and ephedrine?
  5. Are cold medicines the only products diverted for the manufacture of methamphetamine?
  6. What is CHPA doing to address the methamphetamine problem?
  7. What is the Meth Health Education Campaign?
  8. What is Meth Watch?
  9. What is CHPA’s position on the Combat Meth Act, a federal initiative which restricts the sales and placement of over-the-counter medicines containing pseudoephedrine?
  10. What is CHPA's position on placing medicines containing pseudoephedrine on prescription status?

 

  1. What is methamphetamine?

Methamphetamine is a synthetic drug sold as pills, capsules, or powder and can be smoked, snorted, injected, or swallowed. Also known as “meth,” “speed,” “crank,” or “ice,” meth is an illegal and highly addictive drug that affects the central nervous system. Ingestion of methamphetamine increases heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and rate of breathing; dilates the pupils; and produces euphoria, increased alertness, a sense of increased energy, and tremors.

High doses or chronic use have been associated with increased nervousness, irritability, and paranoia, which in turn lead to hyperactive behavior and dramatic mood swings. Heavy users often exhibit extreme belligerence and paranoia. Withdrawal from high doses often results in severe depression. Adverse consequences of abuse include the risk of stroke, convulsions, dangerously high body temperature, and cardiac arrhythmia.

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  1. How is methamphetamine produced?

Production of methamphetamine has changed significantly over the past 10 years. Primarily, meth has been imported into the United States as a finished drug from Mexico. More recently, officials have traced importation from other countries as well, including Canada, China, and India.

Methamphetamine also is manufactured illegally in the United States. Of the total amount of methamphetamine produced in the United States, a majority is produced in a small number of “super labs,” laboratories capable of producing in excess of 10 pounds of methamphetamine in one 24-hour production cycle.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimates a majority – between 75-65 percent – of the meth produced in this country is made in U.S. based super labs or smuggled in as finished product from Mexico. The remainder of the meth produced in the United States is made in small, clandestine labs. These labs often yield only enough for the meth cook’s own personal use.

As a result of anti-meth laws at the state and federal level, the number of small toxic labs have dramatically decreased. However, according to the DEA, the Administration now notes a rise in major methamphetamine trafficking from Mexican-based drug organizations.

The DEA tracks the number of meth lab seizures nationwide. http://www.dea.gov/concern/map_lab_seizures.html

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  1. What is the connection between methamphetamine and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines?

Pseudoephedrine or ephedrine is a necessary ingredient, or “precursor,” in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine are the active ingredients in legitimate brand-name and store-brand OTC cough/cold and asthma medicines. These safe and effective medicines are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for over-the-counter use by American consumers.

Unfortunately, there are illegitimate producers making products using these ingredients. These illegitimate producers are not members of CHPA and often sell their products at nontraditional outlets. They sell their products in large quantities—far larger than could be reasonably used by the average consumer—and most likely are not packaged in federally mandated blister packs. CHPA does not support the sale of these products and proposes stiff penalties for their manufacture.

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  1. What are the legitimate OTC uses for pseudoephedrine and ephedrine?

Pseudoephedrine is an FDA-approved OTC nasal decongestant and is sold as either a single-ingredient product or in combination cough/cold products. Ephedrine is an FDA-approved OTC bronchodilator for those suffering from asthma and is typically sold in combination with the ingredient guaifenesin.

A large majority of over-the-counter decongestants used by millions of consumers every day for effective relief from the symptoms caused by colds, allergies, and asthma contain pseudoephedrine or ephedrine as their active ingredient. Both ingredients are recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as safe and effective medicines.

These medicines serve an important healthcare need by bringing much needed relief to consumers conveniently and affordably. Each year, an estimated one billion Americans suffer from colds, according to the latest data from the National Institutes of Health. This translates into 38 million missed school days and more than 29 million lost workdays each year. Further, a recent study by Northwestern University found that the use of over-the-counter medications to relieve symptoms of upper respiratory infections can save the U.S. healthcare system and economy almost five billion dollars.

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  1. Are cold medicines the only products diverted for the manufacture of methamphetamine?

Small clandestine meth labs use a variety of common, widely available household products to manufacture meth, including: acetone, rubbing and isopropyl alcohol, iodine, starter fluid (ether), gas additives (methanol), drain cleaner (sulfuric acid), lithium batteries, rock salt, matchbooks (red phosphorus), lye, paint thinner, aluminum foil, glassware, coffee filters, and propane tanks.

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  1. What is CHPA doing to address the methamphetamine problem?

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) is deeply concerned that safe and effective medicines manufactured by its member companies and purchased by millions of legitimate consumers to treat symptoms of colds, allergies, and asthma are being diverted to manufacture methamphetamine in small clandestine labs. DEA officials state that the majority of methamphetamine in the United States is either imported into this country as a finished drug or is produced in large super labs using bulk pseudoephedrine. While clandestine labs produce relatively small amounts of meth, they create hazardous problems for local law enforcement, communities, children, and the environment.

CHPA feels strongly that the most effective way to significantly address methamphetamine production and abuse is through a multi-faceted approach that includes retail sales limits, placement restrictions, strong law enforcement, treatment, and demand-reduction initiatives that promote cooperation within communities to stem the production of meth locally and reduce abuse broadly. CHPA was pleased to support the federal Combat Methamphetamine Act—a legislative initiative which went into full effect September 2006 and implements retail sales limits and product placement restrictions for all medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Moreover, CHPA has taken a comprehensive approach towards meth production and abuse on multiple levels. Specifically, CHPA:

  • Supports a national strategy to prevent the diversion of pseudoephedrine, including the federal initiative to address methamphetamine abuse by moving medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter; implementing retail sales limits of these medicines; requiring customers to show identification; and requiring retailers to maintain a recordkeeping logbook of sales.
  • Has established a national Meth Watch program (www.MethWatch.com) to curtail sales and theft of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products for illegal purposes and to promote cooperation between retailers and law enforcement.
  • Sponsored regional programs by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the American Academy of Pediatrics to prevent adolescent use of meth and club drugs through education and outreach to teens and parents about the health risks associated with methamphetamine abuse.
  • Works with a coalition of national organizations representing manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to work collectively against the illegal diversion of methamphetamine precursor ingredients.

CHPA has supported the enactment and implementation of anti-meth legislation since the 1980s, beginning with the Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act of 1988. CHPA also supported the Comprehensive Methamphetamine Control Act of 1996 (CMCA) and subsequent federal legislation, and worked with U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to help define "suspicious orders" that could tip off retailers and their employees to an attempt to divert legitimate OTC medicines to illicit uses.

CHPA has worked with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the effort to combat methamphetamine use. The ONDCP funds the national anti-methamphetamine education campaign, including paid advertising. CHPA has made presentations at ONDCP and DEA conferences on diversion prevention, and has lobbied Congress to increase funding for ONDCP anti-drug programs, law enforcement efforts, demand reduction, and prevention.

In addition, CHPA has provided funding for a growing health education campaign against methamphetamine abuse implemented by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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  1. What is the Meth Health Education Campaign?

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, in conjunction with the American Academy of Pediatrics and CHPA, has developed media campaign template aimed at reducing substance abuse among adolescents by speaking about health consequences to both teens and parents. The pilot campaign was launched in St. Louis, Missouri, and Phoenix, Arizona, in June 2003.

The program’s goal is to help reduce meth and club drug use among youth by encouraging anti-drug attitudes and increasing parent-youth dialogue. The campaign combines public service advertising and print education messages with a public relations effort that involves specially-trained local pediatricians reaching out to parents and teens in the St. Louis and Phoenix areas.

Research results from the two-year pilot program show a significant impact on parents’ and teens’ attitudes about methamphetamine as a health risk. CHPA expanded this program in Tennessee where doctors across the state received media training on the effective ways to communicate to parents the dangers associated with methamphetamine abuse. In collaboration with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency currently utilizes this successful model, applying learning from this campaign towards establishing similar programs in other areas of the country.

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  1. What is Meth Watch?

Meth Watch is a public-private partnership between retailers and law enforcement to stop the diversion of legitimate products containing pseudoephedrine to the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine. Meth Watch was started in Kansas by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Methamphetamine Prevention Project, and Kansas retailers.

Encouraged by its success, CHPA, in cooperation with Kansas, launched a national effort to help states affected by the meth problem adopt Meth Watch as part of the solution. As part of this program, CHPA and its member companies provided direct funding and resources to states interested in implementing Meth Watch programs in their communities. CHPA launched www.MethWatch.com to serve as a national resource center for the program and is providing training, technical assistance, and retail support to those states participating in the voluntary program. To date, CHPA has provided seed money to 16 states interested in implementing the Meth Watch program. States that currently have a Meth Watch program or are forming one include Kansas, Washington, Oregon, Iowa, Tennessee, Montana, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, South Carolina, Texas, New Mexico, Mississippi, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania.

For more information about CHPA’s Meth Watch program, visit www.MethWatch.com.

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  1. What is CHPA’s position on the Combat Meth Act, a federal initiative which restricts the sales and placement of over-the-counter medicines containing pseudoephedrine?

CHPA is pleased to lend its support to The Combat Meth Act, a federal initiative aimed at addressing the methamphetamine problem in this country. This legislation, signed into law March 2006, includes sales and product placement restrictions on OTC medicines containing pseudoephedrine (PSE) to prevent the diversion of PSE to methamphetamine. The Combat Meth Act became fully effective September 30, 2006.

Recognizing that sales and product placement restrictions alone will not stop the meth problem, CHPA supports tough, comprehensive measures to attack this problem at every level of its manufacture and use, and feels that efforts to restrict precursors combined with substantial funding to states to fight meth use and trafficking will make a dramatic impact in the manufacture of methamphetamine in the United States. In addition to the sales and placement restrictions, CHPA was pleased that The Combat Meth Act included $99 million each year for five years beginning in 2006 for state and local grants to fight meth use and trafficking. An additional $70 million is included for drug court funding, as well as a $20 million appropriation for drug endangered children grant programs.

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  1. What is CHPA's position on placing medicines containing pseudoephedrine on prescription status?

CHPA favors retail sales and placement restrictions on pseudoephedrine containing medicines rather than requiring a doctor's visit and prescription for those consumers who use these medicines. States with sales restrictions in place are already seeing a significant impact in the reduction of meth labs without placing an added burden on consumers. While restricting consumer access to pseudoephedrine has been shown to reduce the number of small meth labs in states with these restrictions, it has not been shown to reduce meth usage at all. There continues to be an increase in meth coming into the U.S. through Mexico and other countries. Any approach to reducing methamphetamine abuse must address the totality of the meth supply and include funding for demand-reduction, education, and treatment programs.

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