Indiana Attorney General launches anti-meth campaign

Indiana’s attorney general wants state residents to stop smurfing.

Smurfing refers to the purchase of popular cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine for secondary sale to a methamphetamine producer. These medicines include Advil Cold and Sinus, Allegra-D, Claritin-D, Mucinex D and Sudafed.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller helped launch the State’s new anti-smurfing public awareness campaign Sept. 3.

Separate from the public awareness campaign, Indiana law requires pseudoephedrine purchases are limited to 3.6 grams per day, 7.2 grams per month and 61.2 grams
annually.

Pharmacists are required to record the name, address, ID number and signature of the purchaser.

Zoeller joined representatives from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the Indiana Pharmacists Alliance and other organizations to launch the campaign, which involves posting flyers in pharmacies warning of the consequences of smurfing.
The campaign was launched in Evansville because Vanderburgh County leads the state for the number of meth labs found so far this year, according to a press release from Zoeller’s office.

Monroe County ranks third in the state for meth labs seized in 2012.
Zoeller said this initiative is aimed at stopping home production because of the great environmental and public health risks of the chemical exposure involved in methamphetamine production.

“Home meth labs pose a health risk not only to the cookers, but also to the police who will inevitably have to clean them up,” Zoeller said. “Another big risk is explosion.”

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association has also been spreading awareness.

“Indiana now joins Kentucky, Missouri and Alabama in having this program in place,” said Elizabeth Funderburk, CHPA senior director of communications and public affairs.

The initiative required the cooperation of the drug producers and retailers.

“The retailers participated and are very supportive of this voluntary initiative,“ Funderburk said. “The makers of these medicines are in the business of making people feel better and never want to see their medicines illegally diverted to manufacture methamphetamine.”

Funderburk said CHPA researched poster ideas to find the balance of educating potential smurfers about consequences without alarming law-abiding people who want cold and allergy medicines.

Zoeller said these posters will serve as “fair warning” to potential smurfers who cannot claim ignorance of the law once they are apprehended.

He also said the posters are already on display in Evansville and Terre Haute, and are currently in distribution to pharmacies around the state.
 
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