People break ephedrine law by accident

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The main ingredient in methamphetamine is ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. Those are found in some cold and allergy medications as a decongestant. To limit the manufacturing of meth, state law limits how much medicine people can buy with ephedrines in it.

"When the law first came out, we saw a great reduction in [meth] labs," Indiana State Police Sgt. Mike Toles said. Toles works for the meth suppression unit.

Indiana law says people can't buy more than 3 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine at one time or within a seven day period.

For example, a box of Claritin D 12-hour tablets has 10 tablets at 120 mg each. That is 1.2 grams. So, a person could buy two boxes within seven days for a total of 2.4 grams and be within the law.

"The purpose of the law wasn't to make it an inconvenience for people purchasing for use as a legitimate decongestant," Toles said.

Jeannette Rinard knew that state law limited how much of her allergy medication she can buy at a time, but she didn't know that the law also applied to within a seven day period. So, when a Steuben County police officer showed up at her house Monday afternoon with an arrest warrant, she was shocked.

"I was dumbfounded. I had no idea that could happen," Rinard said.

Rinard said she was lucky. The officer asked her if she had allergies, which she does. He said he didn't think she looked like a meth user and that he wouldn't arrest her on the spot. Instead he told her to go to the Steuben County prosecutor's office the next day to get the charges cleared up.

"It was the only time in my life I was happy I'm overweight because I don't look like a meth user," Rinard said.

Rinard brought proof from her doctor that she does have allergies to the prosecutor's office and the charges are being dropped. But, the process of undoing everything is slow. She's still listed on Indiana's Most Wanted.

"Never expected to see my name there," she said.

Rinard doesn't disagree with the law, but said the public needs to be better educated about it. She added police shouldn't arrest someone for just breaking the seven day rule.

"It would be nice if there was an extra step. At least talk to the person before you issue an arrest warrant," Rinard said.

Marcia DePew also lives in Steuben County and said she's a victim of the law. Last May an officer arrested her at her home for buying too much allergy medication within a week.

"I was totally unaware I even broke the law," DePew said.

She and her son and daughter all have allergies. She is the one in the family who does all the shopping, so she is the one who always buys the medication.

"Now I put the receipts on the refrigerator so I know when i bought them last so this won't happen again," DePew said.

The charges against her were dropped, but she is still paying her lawyer bill. Until that is paid, she can't get her record exponged.

"These were awfully expensive cold tablets. About $1,500 after all the fees for at $12 box of Alavert and a $7 box of Aleve D," DePew said.

DePew also thinks it was unfair for her to be arrested. She said she's a law-abiding citizen with no record.

"The fact that I was handcuffed. The fact that I was taken to jail. The fact that I was fingerprinted. The fact that I had mugshots taken. I feel all that was unnecessary," she said. "It's not fair you don't get a background check or something first. All this could have been cleared up quickly if they checked to see what kind of person I was."

Sgt. Toles said the state police use the ephedrine logs as an investigation tool.

"It's just an aid for us to assist in developing a case because the ultimate goal is to get a lab," Toles said. If someone breaks the three gram rule, they become noticeable on our radar and we track it. We might not make an arrest or file charges right away."

NewsChannel 15 tried to talk with the Steuben County prosecutor and Steuben County police to find out how they decided to issue an arrest warrant for breaking the seven-day rule, but no one was available on Friday.

Toles added the state is working on developing a system to better track who buys the ephedrine medications.

If a person has a prescription from a doctor for allergy medication, he or she can buy a larger supply and won't be breaking the law.