WASHINGTON -- It has become a lot harder to buy cold medicine lately.

Why?

Because it contains pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in methamphetamine.

News4's Julie Carey went undercover to check how well retailers are following the new restrictions on the medicine and shares her results.

Virginia was the first jurisdiction in our area to impose restrictions on the sales of pseudoephedrine products, and by September, new federal legislation will force the District and Maryland to do the same.

From the toxic labs filled with hazardous waste to the devastating impact on the addicts, methamphetamine is viewed by police as one of the most threatening drugs they've ever faced, Carey reported.

They hope that putting restrictions on cold and allergy medicines like Sudafed will help shut down the meth cookers who, so far, have mostly stayed out of northern Virginia.

"It is a tremendous tool in controlling labs," said Fairfax County Police Lt. Stephen Thompson. "The more difficult you can make the process of getting the precursor drug, the more effective you can be in controlling labs moving in."

News4's recent shopping trip with an undercover camera showed stores like CVS and Eckerd are following the law to the letter. Medication with only pseudoephedrine is kept behind the counter in the pharmacy, and asking for it is not enough.

Clerk: Will need your ID.

Shopper: So you need my ID because?

Clerk: They regulate this now.

Both stores also recorded information from the shopper's driver's license -- another requirement aimed at tracking pseudoephedrine purchases.

But not all pharmacies are as clear about the rules. At a store in Fairfax County's Eden Center, the pharmacist sold Carey the medicine without asking for her driver's license or recording her name -- a clear violation.

Carey: Were you guys aware of that?

Pharmacist: Um, no. We were not very aware of that.

Next door at National Wholesale Liquidators, News4 found another violation in the display of a mixed ingredient pseudoephedrine -- one that also contains acetaminophen.

Rules for the mixed medicine are less strict -- it can remain on the shelf in sight of a cashier, under constant surveillance or feature an anti-theft device. Instead, News4 found the drug far from an unstaffed register -- no surveillance in sight, easy to steal.

When News4 showed the manager the violation, she directed News4 to a National Wholesale Liquidators spokesman. The medicine was later moved behind the counter.

Other stores, like Target, have already complied with the even stiffer federal rules that take effect next fall -- posting these cards in the aisle and putting everything with pseudoephedrine behind the counter.

In southwest Virginia, where meth has been a huge problem, police credit the restrictions with reducing the number of labs.

"In the same month period before the directive, there were 30 labs," said Danny Glick, of the Virginia State Police Department. "After the directive, it dropped to nine, so it's made some difference."

In northern Virginia, the lack of compliance News4 discovered is a worry.

"In the near future we will conduct operations aimed at finding out who is complying, who is not and charging those who are not," Thompson said.

Another problem: Maryland and the District didn't pass their own laws.

"It's very troubling. If somebody wants to start a lab here all they have to do is cross the bridge to buy their supplies," Thompson said.

In fact, in March in Anne Arundel County, this was the haul of pseudoephedrine seized from a car full of Indiana college students who planned to resell to meth makers at a profit -- they targeted Maryland because it didn't have restrictions.