Meth Shopping List

Mobile County Sheriff Pseudoephedrine Mobile County Deputies Monitor Pharmacies and Show News 5 Crime Solutions Task Force How To Spot Potential Meth Cookers

by Rose Ann Haven

Published: Mon, November 03, 2008 - 6:59 pm CST Last Updated: Fri, November 14, 2008 - 3:06 pm CST

It's cold and flu season. Before you buy medicine with pseudoephedrine in it, you'll have to show your identification and sign for it.
Pseudoephedrine is the key ingredient in Crystal Methamphetamine.
Someone who cooks meth will pay 50 bucks for an 8 dollar box of Sudafed.

Monday, The Mobile County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests of eight pill shoppers. Add that to last week's seventy arrests.
Rose Ann Haven, with The News Five Crime Solutions Task Force, recently rode along with Mobile County Deputy Chad Robbins to see how he monitors pharmacies, "It gets us leads, gives us information, and there are arrests made based on the based on the information that we obtain".

A Mobile County Deputy visits the county's pharmacies every two weeks.

"The first thing we do is make sure they're in compliance as far as looking on the shelves making sure", says Robbins.

He checks to make sure there's not cold medicine out in the open with pseudoephedrine or ephedrine.

At a Wal-greens on Airport Boulevard, Robbins says,
"These are legal as can be right here. Now anything containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine's gonna be behind the counter here".

Next, Robbins heads to the pharmacist for a log of people who've bought pseudoephedrine. The deputy will add it to a database to compare to lists from other pharmacies. He'll also talk to the pharmacist about any suspicious activity.

Pharmacy Manager, Dr. Kristin Everritt says,
"What they do is they get their friends, and so you'll see somebody purchase and then a friend will come up behind them, and then a friend, and of course they don't speak with each other and we don't know for sure..but, they're together. But, it's quite obvious that over time of doing this and seeing trends that they're together".

Another red flag is the combination of household items pill shoppers buy.

Robbins says, "Say, you've got 2 boxes of pseudoephedrine which is your limit in the store, and then you've got some rock salt, some red devil lye. You've got starting fluid for a vehicle. I mean those are red flags".

The Mobile County Sheriff's Office wants you to trust your instincts.
Be on the lookout for people buying unusual amounts of some of these items.

*COFFEE FILTERS
*STARTER FLUID
*EPHEDRINE OR PSEUDOEPHEDRINE
*MATCHBOOKS
*PROPANE TANKS
*IODINE
*LYE
*ACETONE
If you see something suspicious, you can text the word "METH" TO 8-3-9-8-6-3, or call 574.DRUG.
It's completely anonymous.

For more information go to
http://www.methtextmobile.com/

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