Combat Methamphetamine Act: Senate Judiciary Committe to Hear Bill

The Combat Methamphetamine Act of 2005 (Senate Bill 103) will be heard today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Bill is sponsored by U.S. Senators Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and would:

* Moves cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter – amends the Controlled Substances Act to appropriately limit the sale of medicines containing pseudoephedrine by placing them behind the counter and sets a limit on how much of such medicines one person can buy in a month – 7.5 grams.

* Requires signature and identification for purchases – The Attorney General will develop regulations to ensure uniformity.

* Creates alternate procedures for stores without pharmacies and stores in rural areas – The Drug Enforcement Administration and States will develop regulations to continue to allow cold medicine to be sold at retail stores without pharmacies and in rural areas (but which meet appropriate security criteria), consistent with the intent of the bill to limit access to pseudoephedrine.

* Creates an airport exemption – Allows retail facilities located within a commercial airport to sell cold medicine with pseudoephedrine (in liquid form or gel caps) in single packages containing no more than 360 milligrams in a 24-hour period and requires them to follow the log book procedures established by the bill.

* Sets a national standard, but allows states to determine appropriate penalties.

* Effective Date – Cold medicines containing only pseudoephedrine must be moved behind the counter within 90 days of enactment. Those medicines with pseudoephedrine and other ingredients must be moved by January 1, 2007.

* Creates a national Meth treatment center – to research effective treatments for Meth abuse.

* Authorizes $43 million for enforcement, training, and research into treatment. This includes:

o $25,000,000 for local law enforcement and federal prosecutors to bring meth manufacturers and dealers to justice
o $13,000,000 for meth treatment and research
o $5,000,000 to help children who have been affected by meth

Feinstein first introduced anti-meth legislation a decade ago, aimed at cracking down on mass sales of the precursor drugs used in meth. In 1999, Congress passed legislation limiting sales of medication, but it had an exemption for medication sold in blister packs, which today means just about all the drugs. The sponsors say that has created the need for the current bill.

The Bill is supported by the makers of Sudafed, Pfizer Inc. and by the following:

Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer
Fertilizer Institute
Food Marketing Institute
Healthcare Distribution Management Association
Missouri Governor Matt Blunt
Missouri Highway Patrol
National Association of Chain Drug Stores
Safeway
Wal-Mart

Flap urges quick adoption of the ACT.

Kudos to Senator Feinstein for her diligent efforts to curb Methamphetamine.

Contact her office and let her know that you support S. 103, the Combat Meth Act of 2005.

Update #1

However, the Iowa Governor’s office is concerned that this bill may be too weak:

A proposed federal anti-methamphetamine bill is weaker than legislation passed in states like Iowa, which it would supersede, the Des Moines Register reported June 8.

The Combat Meth Act would require drugs containing pseudoephedrine to be sold behind pharmacy counters. But state leaders worry that Congress will bend to lobbying pressure by the pharmaceutical industry and weaken the federal legislation, which would override stronger laws passed at the state level.

Iowa, for example, has the strongest anti-meth law in the country and bans over-the-counter sales of liquid and starch-based pediatric medicines containing pseudoephedrine, which the federal law would allow. “Our legislation ought to be the national model,” said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. “Anything less than what Iowa is doing can minimize the security that can come from this bill.”

The original Combat Meth Act authored by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) would not have superseded state law. But the bill has since been amended so that it does. A spokesperson for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that she has been “working with the industry and Republicans to try to get a bill that everyone can support … The pharmaceutical industry would fight strongly anything that wasn’t a national standard.”

“I am concerned,” said Marvin Van Haaften, head of the Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy. “We spent over two years debating, studying, discussing and wisely constructing the (state) bill that would become our final product. Now, the federal measure is in a state of flux, and we could easily wind up with a bill that is considerably weaker than ours.”

Stay tuned, the lobbying Wars in Washington have just begun.