County officials met with pharmacists

Two high-ranking St. Joseph County officials met with 11 local pharmacists Tuesday to discuss strategies on reducing the sale of products that include an ingredient essential in the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

Prosecutor John McDonough and Liz O’Dell, executive director of community mental health and substance abuse services of St. Joseph County, staged the meeting as a way of attempting to control the sale of pseudo-ephedrine.

As a result of the meeting, several mutually agreed-upon strategies will be implemented in the next 90 days. All parties involved agreed to meet in 90 days to discuss how well the proprietary strategies are working.

Over the course of a 10-month period, nearly 30,000 boxes of products containing the meth-making ingredient had been sold in a county with a population of 61,000 individuals, half of whom are children. A major store in Three Rivers sold more than 9,000 and nearly 8,600 were sold by a major store in Sturgis during the 10-month window.