08:19 PM EST on Sunday, December 11, 2005

Drew Rudd, of Rouben’s Pharmacy on Poplar Level Road, says the store has been a staple in the community for the past 40 years, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone.

"It's like a family, that's the most accurate way to put it," he said.

Six months ago people could buy pseudoephedrine in the aisles of most Kentucky stores. It cannot be done now, because the medications are now held behind the counter.

And many say that's made a big difference in law enforcement’s fight against methamphetamine in the Bluegrass.

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Now, the U.S. Congress is hoping to pass a uniform anti-meth law by year's end that is nearly identical to the law adopted in Kentucky over the summer.

The only major difference: Unlike Kentucky's law, the proposed federal law would allow pseudoephedrine-based products to be sold at stores other than pharmacies.

For the last six months, anything with pseudoephedrine — like Claritin-D, Alavert or Contac — has had to be asked for in a pharmacy.

Under the Kentucky law, a person can only buy nine grams of pseudoephedrine in a 30-day period. That measures out to 330 tablets — or a handful of boxes of cold medicine.

People making the purchases must also provide a photo ID and sign a log at the pharmacy.

State police can check the logs at any time.

The new law apparently hasn’t strained any of the store’s family-like relations.

Rudd says things have been mostly smooth.

"I haven't really had anybody say, ‘Well, I'm going somewhere else because you won't sell me more than three boxes,’” he said.

And, coincidence or not, the Kentucky Office of Drug Control says meth lab busts have gone down 80 percent since the new law took effect.

"This one ingredient has become more scarce to get for illegal use" thanks to the new law, Rudd said.

Web story produced by Joshua Coffman