Jefferson County Legislators, County Executive Appeal for Arnold to Restrict Cold Medicine Sales

Jefferson County District 3 Council Member Bob Boyer, District 5 Council Member Teresa Kreitler and County Executive Ken Waller appealed to Arnold City Council members to consider limiting cold medicine sales to people with doctors' prescriptions.

The proposed ordinance would limit the making of methamphetamine, also called meth, within Jefferson County, the county legislators said during the Arnold City Council meeting at 2101 Jeffco Blvd., last Thursday.

Meth can be made from certain cold medicines containing Pseudoephedrine, a drug that reduces congestion and swelling in the nose, states the Food Marketing Institute website.

Arnold is the last city in Jefferson County to consider requiring a prescription for the sale of cold medicines, Kreitler said.

Arnold ordinance currently limits over-the-counter medicine sales, which do not require a prescription, to six to nine grams of pseudoephedrine per package. The ordinance also says those medicines can only be displayed behind a checkout counter or within 10 feet of the unobstructed view of an attended checkout counter.

Jefferson County pharmacists want help limiting cold medicine sales, Kreitler said. Pharmacists in the county told her that they have long lines of people buying pseudoephedrine.

“About half of those people are buying the drug for illegal purposes,” Kreitler said.

Some pharmacists in Jefferson County have limited cold medicine sales without talking to their corporate leaders, she said.

Those pharmacists could be in trouble if their headquarters learned about the restricted sales, Kreitler said.

The County Council passed laws limiting cold medicine sales in unincorporated parts of Jefferson County, she said. The County Council wants each city in Jefferson County to pass individual ordinances limiting sales.

“We (the county council members) want to have a good relationship with each city,” Kreitler said.

Jefferson County Executive Ken Waller supported Kreitler's message toward Arnold’s City Council members and said he respected them. 

Waller asked the city council members to consider the issue at a city work session meeting. “If you choose civil liberties over that (restricting medicine sales) that’s fine,” Waller said.

Waller said the meth problem will move north along Interstate 55 when Festus passes an ordinance restricting cold medicine sales.

Arnold will have to deal the meth-related problem at some time, Waller said.

“I don’t want to address this issue from a council’s perspective, I don’t know exactly the the ins and outs of the charter on that. I don’t want to debate that with you,” Waller said to Arnold’s City Council members.

“We want the cities to deal with it themselves,” Waller said.

Arnold City Attorney Bob Sweeney said the county charter government's authority is limited to the unincorporated areas of Jefferson County and has no authority in Arnold.

The City of Arnold has a health department and can determine its own safety policy, Sweeney said.

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