Washington, DC – In an effort to combat illegal methamphetamine production, nine major drug retailers have now agreed to move all single ingredient pseudoephedrine products behind the pharmacy counter. And the association representing more than 36,000 pharmacies announced support for federal legislation largely consistent with that proposed by Senators Jim Talent (R-MO) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to require all drug stores to reduce access to pseudoephedrine products.

In a news release issued today, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) announced its support for measures reducing access to pseudoephedrine products, including requiring the sale of pseudoephedrine products behind the pharmacy counter by a licensed pharmacist or pharmacy personnel – a key provision of the Talent-Feinstein bill.

According to the NACDS, the following companies have all agreed to move pseudoephedrine products behind the pharmacy counter: Albertsons, CVS, Longs Drugs, Kmart, Rite Aid, Shopko, Target, Walgreens, and Wal-mart.

“By making it more difficult to purchase large quantities of cold medicine blister packs, a major source of the precursor chemicals needed to produce meth, it will be far tougher for meth cooks to make this devastating drug,”Senator Feinstein said.“I thank National Association of Chain Drug Stores for its commitment to fighting meth. But we still need a national standard and hopefully the Senate will soon take up legislation I have sponsored with Senator Talent to  require that products containing pseudoephedrine be sold behind the pharmacy counter."

“This is the first national association representing the retail sector to support the principles of the Combat Meth Act,” said Sen. Talent. “Sen. Feinstein and I have been working with the chain drug stores and other retail groups for months and this announcement shows they are willing to work with us to help curb meth production in our communities. It is critical that all retailers be required to limit access to cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine. If we can keep these medicines behind the counter, we can keep meth out of our schools and neighborhoods.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to take action on the Talent-Feinstein bill in the coming weeks. In addition to requiring that pseudoephedrine products be moved behind the pharmacy counter, and limiting sales to 9 grams, or about 300 pills, within a 30-day period, the bill would provide critical resources to local law enforcement to fight meth.