Drug companies are rapidly reformulating cold medicines to cripple kitchen-sink producers of meth, says The Oregonian in Portland. Already, fewer small meth labs have been found this year in Oregon because of recent restrictions on cold medicines. More potent, ice-like meth supplied by Mexican drug cartels already is filling the void. “There is going to be just as much meth out there,” said Portland police Detective David Anderson. “It will be coming from a different place.”
Pfizer officials now back federal legislation to confine the sale of pseudoephedrine products to pharmacies, as some states have done. About 35 percent of the methamphetamine in the U.S. comes from small labs that use cold pills containing pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in meth. The majority of the meth trade comes from superlabs run by Mexican drug cartels.
Link: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/111952072219160.xml&coll=7