The company said that, by June, all 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the U.S. and the 1,600 stores located internationally will move drugs like Sudafed and Claritin-D off store shelves and behind pharmacy counters. Wal-Mart officials said that about 60 percent of stores already have made the change.

A company spokesperson added that Wal-Mart was discussing the possible reformulation of popular cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, although retailers also are reluctant to see major changes to best-selling drugs.

The Wal-Mart announcement was preceded by similar policy changes by Target and Albertson's, the latter of which operates 2,000 pharmacies under names like Savon and Osco. "The clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine has tremendous social, environmental, and law-enforcement impact in many of the communities we serve," said Albertson's CEO Larry Johnston. "We want to do our part to make certain that the products we sell do not become part of the problems that methamphetamine labs cause."

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