The crackdown on meth has comes to your local store.

Since the beginning of the year, a new law makes it tougher to buy your favorite cold medicine.

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Reporter Essex Porter says the new rules could put your medical privacy at risk.

You may not find your favorite cold or allergy medicine on the shelves any more. The new crackdown on meth means all you may find are plastic cards.

METH SITES BY COUNTY Dept. of Ecology reports on meth cleanup sites in Washington State, by county: 2004 Report [pdf file] 2005 Report [pdf file] 2006 Report [pdf file]

In Puyallup, there was once a meth house on a now-vacant lot next to a school. That's what got to State Senator Jim Kastama.

"One pound of methampetamine would equate to six pounds of toxic waste," Kastama said.

The moon suits could appear in any neighborhood at any time.

"In solid, average neighborhoods, you'd have meth houses cropping up," Kastama said.

Hazardous materials teams cleaned out house after house with an illegal, dangerous meth lab inside -- the epidemic fueled by cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, the chemical meth cookers use to create the addictive drug.

We were at the Fred Meyer store in Puyallup last march, when cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine were pulled from the aisles.

Then it was company policy; now it's state law.

That means Fred Meyer pharmacist Keith Herner now keeps those cold medicines behind the pharmacy counter.

"Carry the product, and the patient comes to the end window and they can see exactly what we have and this for the most part is what we carried out in the main store," Herner said.

The plastic cards help customers make their selections.

By law, the requirement is the same wherever cold medicines with pseudoephedrine are sold in our state.

And everyone who buys them is supposed to sign a log book.

"We're requesting the time they come in, we're requesting their name, date of birth the id number from their driver's license," Herner said.

Sen. Kastama co-sponsored the new law. The logbook requirement took effect in January.

"Last year, we had about 35 meth labs in Puyallup. This year, as of date it's down to two," Kastama said.

Statewide, the department of ecology reported 806 meth labs all of last year. That's 67 per month.

But since January of this year, there have been only 118 meth labs reported, less than 30 a month.

"The good that's been done, you no longer find the meth houses and these toxic chemicals in our neighborhoods," said Sen. Kastama.

In response, investigators say, Mexican drug cartels are now importing finished meth to push on addicts here.

"Clearly the Mexican cartels have made it so that people are still using meth," Kastama said.

By law only the police and Board of Pharmacy investigators are supposed to have access to the pseudoephedrine log books.

"Even when they are put into storage, they're kept under lock and key," said Herner.

But the ACLU believes the logbook requirement intrudes on medical privacy.

"Say you're a bad cold sufferer, allergy sufferer, you buy these things regularly you may come under suspicion for what's actually an innocent act," said Doug Klunder of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Still, privacy advocates can't point to any abuses, so far.

"Not that we have heard yet. One of the insidious features of privacy abuses is that often you don't find out about them," Klunder said.

There's no longer a meth house next to that elementary school in Puyallup. But for privacy advocates, that additional safety comes at a price.