COLD and flu remedies that contain pseudoephedrine would become available only by prescription if authorities adopt a radical plan aimed at tackling Australia's growing epidemic of the drug known as ice.
NSW Police will host a three-day international conference in Sydney from Wednesday to address the growing problem of illegal drug manufacturing.
The Australasian Chemical Diversion Congress will bring together Federal Government policy advisers, health department officials, pharmaceutical companies and police.
Top of the agenda will be a proposal, backed by NSW Police, to follow the example set by New Zealand this month and reclassify pseudoephedrine-based medicines so they could be accessed only through an appointment with a GP - a big step-up from the current system, which requires proof of identification at pharmacies and imposes a limit of one packet per customer for some medications.
NSW drug squad commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham backed the move as ''viable'' and a ''natural progression''. He said it would cripple many of the state's organised crime gangs, which depend on pseudoephedrine to manufacture drugs such as ice (methylamphetamine) and speed.
It is estimated that a third of the pseudoephedrine used to make ice is bought or stolen from pharmacies.
''Pseudoephedrine has developed into a highly sought-after drug on the black market,'' Superintendent Bingham said.
''As further restrictions have been placed on its availability, it's left various levels of the industry exposed to serious crime. We're not just talking pharmacies, but robberies from logistics and warehousing. It's a huge problem and it's on the increase.''
Latest statistics show, NSW Police have uncovered 57 amphetamine labs this year, surpassing the 55 found in 2008. Forty kilograms of amphetamines were seized, with an estimated street value of $21.5million.
"Pseudo running" has become lucrative work for criminals who sell the drugs to illegal backyard labs.
Last month a 51-year-old man was charged after he was allegedly caught buying pseudoephedrine-based cold and flu tablets with fake ID at a chemist in Westfield Miranda. Police said they found 17 fake driver's licences and a list of chemists he had targeted. He will face Sutherland Local Court on November 5.
Detective Inspector Nicholas Iorfino, from the NSW drug squad's chemical operations unit, welcomed the proposal.
''There are some ramifications for NSW and Australia now that New Zealand has gone down that road,'' he said. ''We have more pharmacies in this state than the whole of New Zealand. Because of the drug's high black market value criminal groups [in New Zealand] would inevitably refocus on what they could get here.''
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners vice-president Dr Morton Rawlin said: ''Doctors' workloads would undoubtedly increase but, in turn, it will become harder for criminals to obtain the drug.''
But Pharmacy Guild of Australia spokesman Greg Turnbull condemned the proposal, saying it ''would penalise all the people in the community who use those medications appropriately''. He said there already existed a centralised real-time electronic software system that alerted pharmacies to suspicious requests.
The guild's innovation and technology manager, Shaun Singleton, said resources would be stretched as ''patients requiring medication to treat their cold clog up waiting rooms. Pharmacists are perfectly well trained to handle the issue''.
