Arnold City Council Wants to Hear from Cold Medicine Makers

Arnold City council members want to hear from cold medicine users and pharmaceutical companies prior to considering a ban on over-the-counter drugs that contain a chemical used to make methamphetamine.

After listening to Jefferson County Sheriff’s Cpl. Tim Whitney and County Executive Ken Waller discuss the problems meth causes on residents and cities, city council members said they needed to hear opponents of the cold medicine sales ban.

“I don’t want the good people in the community to be punished by bad people stealing in the area. But we (the city council members) need to look at all sides of the issue,” Mayor Ron Counts during the Thursday city council work session at at 2101 Jeffco Blvd.

Methamphetamine, or meth, is a drug that causes intense joy in people who smoke, drink, inject or smoke the drug, the National Institutes of Health website said.

Meth is also a gateway drug that may cause people to commit crimes or abuse more potent drugs in the future, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Cpl. Tim Whitney said to council members.

Certain cold medicines contain the compound ephedrine or pseudoephedrine that is needed to make meth, Whitney said.

Meth makers never buy the cold medicines. They prefer to have other people "smurfs" buy the medicines, Whitney said. Smurfs can resell the cold medicine for $100 to meth makers or exchange it for heroin. 

Smurfs may steal or vandalize property while in Arnold to buy cold medicines, Whitney said.

Meth makers "cooks" can produce the drug and possibly cause a fatal explosion while in Arnold, Whitney said. People can pour meth ingredients into a plastic bottle, drive around the city and have a finished product in a short time.

Occasionally the chemicals can explode, Whitney said. A meth lab in Fenton caused a mobile home fire that killed one person in March, Whitney said, and two people died in a High Ridge apartment fire about six years ago.

“The (meth) cooks can victimize a community. If they accidentally blow up an apartment building, no one can live there anymore,” Whitney said.

Arnold is the last Jefferson County city that allows pharmacies to sell those cold medicines, said Whitney, as well as Jefferson County council members attending the Arnold council meeting.

Jefferson County Council members and County Executive Ken Waller attended the city council meeting and lobbied for Arnold to enact a law requiring patients to obtain a doctor’s prescription prior to purchasing cold medicines at a local retail pharmacy.

Meth cooks and smurfs would go to another county to buy their cold medicines, Waller said.

The county council won’t step into Arnold and force the city to require prescriptions to sell cold medicines, Waller said. “Regardless of what you do, I’m going to Jefferson City and lobby to ban ephedrine sales statewide.”

No one from the pharmaceutical companies attended the Sept. 8 meeting, Arnold city council members said.

City council members hope to hear from a pharmaceutical company spokesman in the October work session prior to further considering an ordinance on the issue.