St. Charles County is seeing a spike in methamphetamine labs despite the county’s requirement of prescriptions for the sale of cold medications containing pseudoephedrine.
Local officials blame stores in nearby St. Louis County, where such medications are still available over-the-counter.
So far this year, there have been 147 meth lab incidents in St. Charles County, compared to 111 during the same time-frame last year.
Statewide, 70 cities and counties have enacted laws prohibiting over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine. A statewide measure to ban over-the-counter sales of the drug have failed in past legislative sessions.