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"I just didn't want the characters in the store that I'd seen in here," Hinterlong said. "I know the kids who are in the town. These weren't kids I knew."
Then, according to Hinterlong, that trickle turned into a steady flow that would make its rounds to other area stores that carried the products, including a nearby Dollar General.
"There were always people coming here to get it, then going there to get it," he said. "I was chasing them back and forth. My wife said I was too gutsy. I would chase them down and stare at them so they knew that I knew they were going after meth."
Hinterlong's battle against the crippling meth epidemic took one more step forward last month when he and area pharmacists tightened the time frame monthly orders on controlled prescriptions could be filled to two days.
According to Hinterlong, every extra pill that leaves the pharmacy matters and the quality of the pseudoephedrine in meth makes a big difference in the drug's potency and addictive ability.
Washington Law
Earlier this week, Washington became the first city in the nation to pass an ordinance requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine products: the same safety methods Hinterlong put into use years ago.
Now, Hinterlong is calling on all of Franklin County to follow suit voluntarily, before individual cities pass their own restrictive ordinances. It's a plan he says could have been implemented years ago.
"The time has come," he said. "Really what it boils down to is we're all tired of it. Meth ruins lives. I think we can literally dry up the county as far as "pseudoephedrine" that's going for the meth."
This week Hinterlong called most pharmacies in St. Clair and Union asking them to make the change.
"They could do it immediately," he said. "All it takes is a quick change in their computer system... In the back of their head, the pharmacists may grumble about the extra inconvenience, but in the back of their head they have to realize the good it will do."
Hinterlong said he met with all positive feedback from pharmacists and change is on the way.
"I think the pharmacists are all on board," he said. "The pharmacists realize that we really should do more. It's just a matter if corporate headquarters is going to allow them."
Hinterlong said pharmacists at Wal-Mart and Walgreens may be met with some resistance from corporate, perhaps in fear of a lawsuit from drug manufacturers.
However, if individual municipalities are able to pass ordinances requiring prescriptions, large-scale franchises will have no choice but to follow the restriction.
"The stores will still be selling it," he said. "All you're doing is saying you want it to go to the proper use, which I think they (drug manufacturers) would want."
Hinterlong added that many pseudoephedrine orders are already by prescription, so they're eligible to be paid for by the customers' insurance.
The veteran pharmacist said he will continue fighting for the quality of life in St. Clair and Franklin County and, he said, that fight begins with the eradication of meth.
"The quality of life in this county depends on the quality of its citizens," he said. "As pharmacists, we all have a responsibility to uphold."
