Pills not worth the hassle says pharmacist

By SCOTT MacLEOD

An Auckland pharmacy held up at gunpoint by robbers hunting pseudoephedrine-based cold and flu pills will stop stocking the products.

The Three Kings Plaza Pharmacy is the latest of many stores to stop ordering the pills, which criminals use to make the drug P, or pure methamphetamine.

Three to six customers were in the store at 5pm on Monday when two hooded men walked in with what appeared to be a silver pistol, demanding flu pills and cash.

A staff member who was called a "bitch" and told to open a till said she and the customers were left shaking.

The pharmacy's owner, George Matthews, said it was "not worth the hassle" of stocking the pills, and he had his staff's safety to consider. Once his remaining stock was sold, he would order no more.

His store had already been burgled twice in the past 18 months by criminals seeking flu pills.

Pill packets worth $14 can be sold to illegal drug factories for $100. Methamphetamine cooks use them to make P.

A spate of robberies and burglaries has prompted some pharmacists to call for a ban on pseudoephedrine-based pills. The Government is deciding whether to classify them as a class-C3 drug, but the change is unlikely to happen until next year.

Pharmacy Guild president Richard Heslop said anecdotal evidence showed burglaries were becoming more common, and robberies also seemed to be increasing.

But Euan Galloway of the Pharmaceutical Society said he believed the number of holdups had dropped in the past year.

Gisborne's 11 pharmacies have reported a big drop in burglaries and robberies after they all pulled pseudoephedrine from their shelves.

Pharmacists in some other towns, such as Kawerau, have put signs in their windows saying they no longer sell pseudoephedrine.

Police said there had been no developments in the hunt for the Three Kings robbers, who escaped in a black Honda hatchback with the hatch still open.

* Two balaclava-clad men, one armed with a knife, robbed a small Tauranga pharmacy yesterday.

Police said the haul was mainly restricted drugs.

One man was arrested last night and charged with aggravated robbery. He will appear in the Tauranga District Court today.

Another man was helping police with their inquiries.

Herald Feature: The P epidemic