By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The maker of Sudafed is offering a new version of the
cold and allergy medicine without an ingredient often used to produce
the illegal and highly addictive drug methamphetamine in homemade labs.

Pseudophedrine will be replaced with another substance in a new product
called Sudafed PE, which will become available Jan. 10 in the United
States, Pfizer Inc. spokeswoman Erica Johnson said Wednesday. Pfizer
will continue to offer the old Sudafed, too.

Johnson said the new formula will make it easier for consumers to buy
the medication and could help curtail meth production.

In many states, pharmacists keep Sudafed and other cold medicines used
to make meth behind a counter. Oklahoma requires that such medications
be distributed by a pharmacist, a step also being considered in Indiana
and other states hit hard by the drug epidemic.

"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," Johnson said.

Johnson said the new formula has been sold for years in Europe and has
proved safe and effective.

"Anything anybody can do to reduce the use of pseudophedrine to make
meth is a good thing," said Eric Lawrence, program manager for an
Indiana State Police unit that searches for clandestine drug laboratories.

Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported that more than
7,000 meth labs were dismantled nationwide.

The drug, a stimulant that can be injected, smoked or swallowed, has
grown in popularity in recent years as its use and production have
spread from the South and Southwest. It is most prevalent in California
and the Midwest.

Indiana State Police expect to have dismantled 1,500 meth labs by the
end of the year, up from 1,260 last year and just 27 in 1998.

Jim Braum, a pharmacist at the Oak Hill Pharmacy in Evansville who keeps
Sudafed and other cold medicines containing pseudophedrine behind the
counter, said he doubts the new Sudafed formula alone will curb meth
production.

"The other pseudophedrine will still be out there," Braum said.

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