Report: PSE sales plummet in Washington, Mo., as Rx-only ordinance is enacted

WASHINGTON, Mo. In the three months following a local ordinance requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine, sales of the popular nonprescription decongestant plummeted by more than 92% heading into the cough-cold season, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday morning, citing figures collected by local pharmacies in accordance with federal law and shared with the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

Local pharmacies sold some 4,400 PSE-containing products April through July, the paper reported, or the three months following the end of last year’s cough-cold season. From July 7, the day the prescription-only law was enacted, through Sept. 30, only 310 PSE-containing products were sold.

Those sales have not been replaced by sales of phenylephrine, the alternative decongestant available over-the-counter, local pharmacists told the St. Louis Dispatch.

Sales are also down in local municipalities, the paper reported. Sales dropped an average of 1.3% at Walmart stores in surrounding towns during the same period. In Union, Mo., a township five miles south of Washington that enacted a similar ordinance Oct. 13, sales were down 0.5%.

Approximately 25 miles to the east in St. Louis county, PSE sales are up some 8%, according to the news story. But there an electronic database tracks all  PSE purchases through the county’s 200-plus pharmacies, which gives local law enforcement the ability to crack down on methamphetamine addicts hoping to illegally convert PSE cold medicines into meth without impeding access to law-abiding citizens.

Local Washington officials pointed to the PSE sales decline as a sign of success, according to the paper, especially following a recent opinion issued by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster that the local OTC-to-RX switch ordinance is legal.