Vigos Ephedrine ordinance could be revamped

Tag : ephedrine hydrochloride


TERRE HAUTE — A county ordinance aimed at ingredients used in over-the-counterallergy and congestion medicines should be amended to account forsellers of the product, said Vigo County Sheriff Jon Marvel.

The sheriff wants to hold sellers responsible for the number ofpackages sold weekly

“There is a loophole in [the ordinance] we found … thatmakes it difficult to enforce, as [the ordinance] is not specificenough,” Marvel said.

Vigo’s 2004 ordinance targets ephedrine, pseudoephedrine,ephedrine hydrochloride, pseudoephedrine hydrochloride,pseudoephedrine sulfate and phenylpropanolamine, substances used tomake methamphetamine.

The county ordinance was passed before a state law that alsotargets meth ingredients.

Vigo is the only county with a local ordinance because it waspassed before the state law took effect.

Marvel on Tuesday asked the Vigo County Board of Commissioners toamend a section of the ordinance that states that is unlawful forany customer to buy or acquire more than two packages of productscontaining ephedrine within a seven-day period.

As amended, it would read that “it is unlawful for anycustomer to purchase or for a permittee to sell to the samecustomer, more than two packages of products containing ephedrinewithin a seven-day period.”

County Attorney Robert Wright said that “people selling theproduct can sell two packages at a time under the currentordinance, and while unlawful for the person to buy more than onetime in a seven-day period, it doesn’t apply to theseller.”

“If we are really going to stop it, the seller is the one wehave to control because they have some responsibilities, becausegenerally, people who are buying this in large quantities haveother issues that are much greater than this ordinance violation,so they are not too concerned.

“The seller should be concerned because they are a businessin our community,” Wright said.

After the meeting with commissioners, Wright said it has been hisexperience violations have “been more of the conveniencestores that have been selling to the same people day after day, butthey just don’t sell more than two packages at a time. Aslong as they don’t sell more than two packages at a time,under the existing ordinance, there is nothing we can do,”Wright said.

“It is a violation for the buyer to buy more than once inevery seven days, but people will sign the sheets [required topurchase materials]. Those sheets show that the same man or womankeeps showing up and buying it. As long as they don’t buymore than two packs, the retailer doesn’t seem to beconcerned,” Wright said.

Wright said at least seven or eight cases have been dismissedbecause of the loophole.

The county attorney will prepare an amendment, however he voicedconcern about “what effect the state ordinance might have, ifthat precludes us from amending our ordinance. I will check intothat.”

Wright said if county officials want the amendment, it could placethe county under the state law, which means the countyprosecutor’s office would be responsible for enforcing thelaw, instead of the county attorney.

Ashraf Vahora, manager of the Express Mart, in the 300 block ofSouth Third Street, said the proposed change will not have mucheffect on his business, as buyers are still limited to buying twopackages per week.

“Every time we have someone sign the book and write down howmany [packages] we give them. We track every customer. Wedon’t give them extra, no more than two, and we look back atlast week’s log to make sure it has been at least seven days... or we don’t sell,” he said.

Jane Herdahl, manager of Jiffy Mini-Mart in the 5000 block ofLafayette Ave., said she sees little need for an ordinanceamendment.

“We know who the bad guys are and don’t sell it tothem,” she said. “I think [the county ordinance] shouldstay the way it is. We try to watch to make sure people only getthe limit they are supposed to, but we have a lot of business andcan’t watch everyone, but we do try to keep the namesstraight” on the required sign-in sheets.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 orhoward.greninger@tribstar.com.
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