Ellisville Bans Over-the-Counter Pseudoephedrine

Effective next month, pseudoephedrine won’t be available in Ellisville as an over-the-counter drug following a vote by council members Wednesday meant to curb the manufacture of meth.

The city council voted 4 to 3 in favor of the ban, which means residents seeking the nasal decongestant will have to use a doctor’s prescription to get it, or acquire it in another city.

The vote Wednesday night means Ellisville joins the ranks of Eureka, Wildwood and other nearby cities trying to fight the production of methamphetamine, a highly addictive illegal drug that law enforcement officers say requires pseudoephedrine as a key ingredient. Ballwin, too, on over-the-counter sales of the drug.

Mayor Matt Pirrello said he sympathized with some council members’ desire to avoid interfering with civil liberties, and said the issue would be more effectively addressed by state lawmakers. Similar proposals at the state level stalled in the capitol’s most recent legislative session, however.

“The question then becomes what do we do in the interim,” Pirrello said.

Multiple law enforcement representatives addressed the council prior to the vote Wednesday. Special Agent James Shroba, an Ellisville resident and member of the Drug Enforcement Agency, told council members the ban was necessary in part due to shortcomings of a statewide pseudoephedrine tracking system. As of September, consumers in Missouri buying pseudoephedrine are required to present an ID in order to limit how many boxes one individual can purchase in a month. That practice leads to groups of people going on pseudoephedrine collection junkets, Shroba said, oftentimes with compensation up to $80 a box for individuals with a usable, unmarked ID.

“These people are all career criminals,” Shroba said. “They work from east to west and west to east and stop at every pharmacy, Dierberg’s … any place with a pharmacy, and they fill up that trunk with pseudoephedrine pills.”

Coincidentally, Ellisville Police Chief Tom Felgate said police investigated an incident Wednesday afternoon wherein two individuals at Walgreens on Manchester Road near Hudson Avenue bought pseudoephedrine with fake identification. The two people then went to the parking lot and returned shortly after to attempt to buy more. Police were later called, but the individuals were not located.

“This is exactly what we’re trying to combat by getting this bill passed,” Felgate said.

Council Member Michelle Murray said she isn’t advocating for a state law against the over-the-counter sales, but called cities' bans "trendy" and questioned why a widespread issue is being attacked at the local levels.

“If it’s such a chronic problem, then all we’re doing is suddenly kicking it over to another community,” Murray said. “I can’t stand it that we live in a place in society where we ... (punish) citizens who are law abiding, good members of our community. They’re not doing anything wrong, yet they’re the ones who are going to be inconvenienced by this."

Council members Troy Pieper,  Roze Acup, Pirrello and Linda Reel voted in favor of the proposal. Council members Murray, Dawn Anglin and Clark Compton voted against it.

The ban on over-the-counter pseudoephedrine sales officially goes into effect July 15.

Editor's Note: This article was last updated June 17 at 10:09 a.m. A previous version of the article incorrectly stated the final vote tally and the vote cast by Member Anglin. The information has been corrected. We regret this error.