A meth-proof version of Sudafed will be available nationwide starting next month.

The new drug could improve customer convenience in many states that limit sales of medicines that can be used to manufacture methamphetamine, including Wyoming, where such laws are expected to be proposed in the coming legislative session.

The original Sudafed, which can be used as a primary ingredient in meth, will not be taken off the market.

Sudafed-maker Pfizer has developed Sudafed PE, which will replace pseudoephedrine with phenylphrine as an active ingredient. On a pharmaceutical level, there have been no direct comparisons of the new decongestant ingredients. However, phenylphrine is commonly used in Europe and is distributed by some U.S. companies and cannot be used to make methamphetamine. Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products, on the other hand, often are bought or stolen in bulk by illegal drug manufacturers to make meth.

"The diversion of over-the-counter pseudoephedrine-containing products is one of the major contributing factors to the methamphetamine situation in the United States," reads a notice from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. "Inappropriate retail-level purchases by individuals attempting to procure pseudoephedrine for the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine have been documented as a source of much of the pseudoephedrine found in clandestine methamphetamine laboratories."

Many states have passed laws requiring Sudafed and other pseudoephedrine products to be kept behind the counter at pharmacies, and, in Oklahoma, where pseudoephedrine regulations are among the most stringent in the nation, customers also must show identification and sign a log sheet to buy the decongestant medicines.

Wyoming legislators are considering following the trend, and a bill to regulate pseudoephedrine sales is expected to be proposed in the coming legislative session.

"My understanding is Rep. Elaine Harvey (R-Lovell) is going to be bringing a bill, and the rest of us will be supporting it," said Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, chairman of the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee. "Specifically, (it would) make it so over-the-counter drugs you don't need a prescription for have to be sold from behind the counter, so they can pick up if someone's buying unreasonable quantities.

"It's a piece of the strategy to trying to get this epidemic under control, but only a piece."

Sudafed PE will not be subject to such laws, because its primary component, phenylphrine, cannot be used to make meth.

"It's a matter of striking a balance between giving access to legitimate consumers of the medicine and preventing criminals from getting hold of the product to convert it to methamphetamine," Pfizer spokeswoman Erica Johnson told the Associated Press last week.

Johnson and other Pfizer personnel were unavailable for comment this week.

The nationwide meth epidemic has hit the Pacific, Southwest and West Central regions of the United States particularly hard, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In a 2002 study, more than 12 million Americans ages 12 and older had tried the drug at least once, and almost 600,000 reported using in the month prior to the survey, the ONDCP said.

Scott said he believes the new version of Sudafed is unlikely to make a dent in the problem, because pseudoephedrine, both as traditional Sudafed and in other medicines, still will be available.

"Unfortunately, there's so many different things you can use, they'll probably find a substitute," he said.

But Casper Police Chief Tom Pagel, who has been an outspoken advocate of efforts to curb meth production and use, said he hopes that moves by pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer will start to make a difference.

"Ephedrine (and pseudoephedrine) obviously are a critical piece in making meth," he said. "Any time you eliminate or decrease the availability of that, I think that's a good thing."

Sudafed PE will be available Jan. 10 as an alternative to original Sudafed products that include only pseudoephedrine. They include Sudafed 12-hour, Sudafed 24-hour and Sudafed Nasal Decongestant. Alternative versions of other Sudafed products, such as Sudafed Sinus and Allergy and Sudafed Sinus Nighttime, are expected to be available later in 2005.

Staff writer Jenni Dillon can be reached at (307) 266-0619 or Jenni.Dillon@casperstartribune.net.