Consumer Healthcare Products Association,  Methamphetamine

Kentucky to Settle for Compromise Methamphetamine Legislation?

Methamorphosis as a result of chronic Methamphetamine abuse

Looks like methamphetaime making precurors pseudoephedrine and ephedrine’s best friend, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) is working its lobbying magic again.

A compromise bill aimed at curbing methamphetamine production in Kentucky would place further restrictions on the sales of over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine.

Last week, Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, withdrew a bill that had made it to the Senate floor. That bill would have required a prescription for all medicines containing pseudoephedrine, except those in liquid or gelcap form.

The new bill would only require a prescription for the medicines after a patient has purchased 3.6 grams per month and a maximum of 15 grams annually. Gelcaps and liquids would still be excluded.

The bill would also prohibit anyone convicted of a meth-related offense from buying the drugs without a prescription for five years.

Stivers said the new bill, Senate Bill 3, gives people who use the medications “adequate opportunity without incurring medical expenses or the cost of a prescription to access these on a monthly basis and an annual basis.”

Currently, purchases are limited to 9 grams per month and 120 grams annually.

Legislation aimed at requiring a prescription has been opposed by several senators and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, an industry group that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising and lobbying against the bills presented by Stivers.

Yet, Kentucky had 1,200 Meth Labs discovered in 2011, which is an increased number from the previous year.

This is all about money folks and just for a few drug manufacturers. I detailed the story earlier here.

Kentucky like other states should simply require a prescription for pseudoephedrine and be done with the hometown or local Meth Lab. Then, law enforcement can concentrate on the importation of methamphetamine from Mexico.

These compromise bills, including electronic tracking systems are just BS and not as effective.

Who are the drug companies trying to fool?

3 Comments

  • Nigel Fleming

    Senate Bill 3, like the earlier failed Senate Bill 50, is
    another effort to force Kentuckians to get a prescription for cold medicine.
    Other reports have the cost shift of making cold medicine a prescription at
    over a quarter of a billion dollars!

    But let’s ignore the money.

    SB3 gets tangled up with unrealistic restrictions. There is a
    monthly limit of 3.6 grams with an annual limit of 15 grams. The misguided
    attempt to limit PSE to those misusing a legal product easily reaches into the
    average family.

    But let’s ignore punishing the wrong people.

    The American Conservative Union (ACU) has weighed in. They
    see this as a freedom issue. Rightfully they’re apprehensive of the states
    mission creep into other medical products. Today it’s cold tablets, tomorrow it’ll
    be our cough medicine. Naturally, it’ll be for our own good. Thankfully, the
    conservatives are watching.

    But let’s ignore the ACU.

    Mom buys some Claritin 24D for herself and one of her
    children. They have allergies. It helps. But SB3 has limited those two to a
    weeks’ worth of relief. The problem is there are 4 weeks in a month. Since SB3
    has a max annual limit of 15 grams, that limit would be reached in about 4
    months. What about May, June, July, August, September, October, November and
    December? What about the other 3 weeks in the month the state doesn’t “allow”
    them to buy a legal product?

    But let’s ignore the limits.

    According to the U.S. Justice Department’s National Drug
    Intelligence Center’s 2010 threat assessment, Mexico is once again the “primary
    source of methamphetamine” in the U.S. That’s after Mexico banned the sale of
    all pseudoephedrine (PSE) in 2008. A complete
    ban of PSE in Mexico produced the #1 threat of meth in the U.S. within
    two years.

    But let’s ignore the fact that a total ban of PSE produced
    the #1 meth threat.

    Anyone notice how many contortions we need to preform to try
    to force SB3 to work?

    But it’s really quite simple. Arrest those that misuse the
    cold medicine and leave us law abiding Kentuckians alone.

    Save us a quarter of a billion dollars.

    Punish the right people.

    Leave our freedoms alone.

    Get realistic about the purchasing limits.

    Keep the meth offender registry blocking list.

    Quit ignoring the obvious and address the actual problem. The
    problem is not the legal FDA approved cold medicine, it’s how it’s being
    misused.

     

    • Gregory Flap Cole

      Obviously, you have not read the posts about the problem with Mexico and the use of other precursor chemicals (ones that have already been banned in the USA since the 1980’s) to make their methamphetamine.

      Here is the link to my post: http://flapsblog.com/2012/02/26/mexican-methamphetamine-replacng-american-domestic-supply/

      But, ignore those facts.

      Who gives a rat’s ass about the American Conservative Union. They have their own money corruption problems.

      So, we can ignore them.

      There are other cold medicines besides ones who have pseudoephedrine in them.

      So, use those medicines or get a Rx if you need large quantities and you cannot do without. Or, hey, you can try a liquid or gelcap formula.

      This is not an issue about freedom, but profits for only a few drug companies.

      Ignore the facts at your own peril – when one of those 1,200 Kentucky Meth labs blows up and kills one of your friends or family members.

      Or, when someone you knows becomes addicted from home cooked methamphetamine.