By Kris Maher
CVS Caremark Corp. has halted sales of certain cold medicines in
West Virginia as part of an effort to combat methamphetamine abuse
across the state.
The company no longer will sell single-ingredient
pseudoephedrine, often sold under the Sudafed brand name. The
over-the-counter drug is one of the most popular sources for
chemicals used in meth labs, which have proliferated in West
Virginia in recent years.
In addition to stopping sales of the product in its 50 stores in
West Virginia, CVS also will drop the product from 40 stores
located within 15 miles of the state border, in Kentucky, Maryland,
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is the first time the company
has made such a move.
CVS will continue to sell in the 90 stores a formulation of the
medicine that is resistant to the type of illicit tampering often
used by meth labs.
"We took this step as part of our long-standing commitment to
assuring that PSE products are purchased at our stores only for
legitimate medical purposes," said Mike DeAngelis, a spokesman for
CVS. The company also reduced the amount of pseudoephedrine
products that can be purchased by an individual in a year to half
of the limit currently allowed under West Virginia law.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who has lobbied CVS and other
pharmacy corporations to ban single-ingredient pseudoephedrine
products, praised the move.
"Substance abuse has ravaged West Virginia, and the local
production and abuse of methamphetamine has only added to the
epidemic," he said. "It is past time that we take strong action to
stop this cycle of abuse."
Write to Kris Maher at kris.maher@wsj.com
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