Decongestant purchase triggers investigation

Alert pharmacy personnel notified authorities of a suspicious purchase of drugs, resulting in a highly visible search of a car on Glasgow's main street Monday afternoon.

The case began when a man purchased the maximum amount of Sudafed at the Pamida pharmacy. Sudafed is one of several decongestant cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, a chemical sought out by drug dealers for the manufacture of methamphetamine. For that reason those medicines, although non-prescription, are held behind the counter in drugstores and the amount that can be sold is limited by federal law.

Local pharmacies have a system in place to notify each other when a suspicious purchase is made. Glasgow Police officer Brien Gault called this a great deterrent, and it proved itself Monday. Pamida activated the system, so Western Drug was forewarned when the man tried to buy more Sudafed there. Law enforcement was called at about 1 p.m.

Glasgow police officers, assisted by Valley County sheriff's deputies, surrounded and searched a 1990 Cadillac with county 17 license plates. Evidence was seized with a search warrant and the investigation is ongoing, according to Glasgow police. No arrests have been made. The car is in police custody.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice Web site, "The diversion of over-the-counter pseudoephedrine-containing products is one of the major contributing factors to the methamphetamine situation in the United States."
Other products are listed on the Web site as suspicious purchase items if bought in unusual quantities or under unusual circumstances. These include camping fuel, lithium batteries, matches, iodine, coffee filters, rock salt, battery acid and swimming pool acid.