"I think there are real privacy issues about putting additional burdens on people who purchase over-the-counter drugs," said USC law professor Charles Whitebread.
"That's my privacy," said Diane Greagor, 46, a Riverside resident who works for the state Department of Corrections, as she walked out of a Walgreens drug store near downtown Riverside. "I don't know what they're going to be using this information for," she added. "It's not an illegal drug."
But U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has been pushing measures in Congress to restrict sales of cold medicines that include pseudoephedrine, expressed support.
"I say hurray for Riverside," Feinstein said in Washington.
Feinstein and Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) unveiled an anti-meth bill Tuesday that would restrict access to such cold medicines nationwide.
Although she praised the Riverside County measure, Feinstein's bill, which is supported by the National Assn. of Chain Drug Stores, would preempt all such local rules in favor of national standards and would not be as burdensome on consumers.
Feinstein's proposal would require retailers and drug stores to place cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the pharmacy counter. It would create alternative procedures for stores without pharmacies that sell over-the-counter remedies. It would also limit those buying such drugs to 7.5 grams a month. That is roughly equivalent to eight packets of 32 decongestant pills, rather than the one packet covered by the Riverside County ordinance.
Several major retailers, including Target, Wal-Mart and Ralphs, have voluntarily placed cold medications with pseudoephedrine behind the counter.
A spokesman for Kroger Co., which owns Ralphs and Food 4 Less, said company officials had not yet had a chance to review the Riverside County ordinance but that the company hoped the steps it already was taking would be sufficient to deter abuse.
"We're putting all our products with pseudoephedrine behind the pharmacy counter," said spokesman Terry O'Neil. "In those stores where there is no pharmacy, we plan to take these products off the shelf and put them in cases similar to what stores do with cigarettes."
Methamphetamine is a cheap and powerfully addictive stimulant that is easily manufactured in clandestine laboratories with ingredients that are inexpensive and readily available.
