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Grellner said he first met Sabin at a national narcotics officers conference. He said he's known Sabin for about two years.
In July, Washington became the first city in the United States to pass a local law requiring a prescription to purchase allergy and cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, the vital ingredient needed to manufacture methamphetamine.
Monday night, the city of Union followed suit, passing a similar law.
Grellner and the drug task force have taken the lead in urging cities in Franklin County to pass local anti-meth laws after the Missouri Legislature failed to pass a statewide measure last session.
"As soon as he (Sabin) heard about Washington's law, he asked me to send him a copy of the ordinance," Grellner said. He said he also put Sabin in contact with officials in Oregon, the first state in the nation to restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine with prescriptions.
"They have a huge meth problem over there," Grellner said of New Zealand. "They've been languishing there the same as we have."
In New Zealand, they call meth 'P.' According to a MethCon Group report, New Zealand now has one of the highest addiction rates for methamphetamine in the world and methamphetamine is now the world's worst drug problem.
New Zealand has fewer residents than the state of Missouri.
The country's new action plan on methamphetamine was outlined last week by Prime Minister John Key who said he is "determined that we will use the full force of the government's arsenal to fight the problem of 'P,' a seriously addictive drug that is ruining lives," according to a report in Pharmacy News, an independent Web site for Australian pharmacist.
The New Zealand government did not accept an offer from the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to provide a free, yearlong pseudoephedrine monitoring system.
The Missouri Legislature passed a law establishing a similar electronic monitoring system, but failed to provide funding to implement the system. The pharmaceutical lobby has made a similar offer to finance a monitoring system in Missouri.
In other states where electronic monitoring systems have been implemented, the number of meth labs have not dropped. That's because meth cooks pay people to purchase the drugs for them.
Jefferson County officials are considering implementing a countywide ban on pseudoephedrine sales without prescriptions.
Support Building for Statewide Ban
Meanwhile, support is growing around the state to have the Missouri Legislature pass statewide pseudoephedrine restrictions.
Grellner said Attorney General Chris Koster has received support for such a measure from 97 of the state's 114 prosecuting attorneys.
Grellner and Sheriff Gary Toelke will be crisscrossing the state in the next three to four weeks to garner support from Missouri sheriffs. They were traveling Tuesday to Chillicothe for a regional meeting of sheriffs.
