Pubdate: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC) Copyright: 2005 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc. Contact: http://www.journalnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504 Author: David Ingram Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) N.C. HOUSE PASSES BILL TO PUT COLD MEDICINE BEHIND COUNTER Bill Aimed At Fighting Meth Labs; Critics Say Problem Is Exaggerated RALEIGH - Getting medicine for stuffed-up sinuses or other cold symptoms should become more difficult in a few months, after the N.C. House gave final legislative approval yesterday to new regulations. House members voted 108-0 for a bill that would restrict access to some medicines that include pseudoephedrine, a common decongestant in such products as Sudafed and a key ingredient in the illegal drug methamphetamine. The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley, who has not taken a position on it but has 30 days to sign or veto the bill. Under the bill, tablet forms that include pseudoephedrine would be available only from a pharmacist. Gel caps and products intended for children under 12 would remain on shelves, although a state commission would have the power to restrict those items further. Consumers will need to show photo identification, and sign their name and give their address to buy the medicines, and they won't be able to buy more than three packages within 30 days without a prescription. "Our communities will be safer because of this tough new law," Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement. He proposed the bill in February after other states passed similar laws. "If criminals can't get the key ingredient, they can't make this dangerous illegal drug that's hurting children and families," Cooper said. The bill would take effect Jan. 15. It was among the most heavily lobbied proposals in the General Assembly this year. Sheriffs, prosecutors and other law-enforcement officials supported it, but many retailers and pharmaceutical companies tried to maintain access to the medicines. All sides have been camped in front of House Speaker Jim Black's office for two weeks, hoping to influence final negotiations on the bill's details. "We'd rather have had less restrictions," said Andy Ellen, a lobbyist for the N.C. Retail Merchants Association. "But in light of the problems in the western part of the state, the policymakers have made a decision." Law-enforcement officials say that small, home labs for making methamphetamine have become more common in recent years. There were nine meth labs discovered in 1999, and 322 in 2004, according to the attorney general's office. Critics say that the definition of a lab is too broad and that authorities are inflating statistics to justify larger budgets and to attract publicity. The pseudoephedrine bill was also a battleground between members of the House and Senate. The two chambers passed competing versions of the bill earlier this year, and they weren't able to come to a compromise after four weeks. Senators stopped talks Tuesday when they left town, fed up with the drawn-out legislative session and vowing not to return until May. House members were stuck yesterday agreeing to a Senate version of the pseudoephedrine bill. Rep. Joe Kiser, R-Lincoln, complained yesterday that, even if the bill cuts down on the number of local meth labs, it won't have much of an effect on meth use because most doses of the drug are smuggled in from out of state. "This nation is being run over by drug problems, and we pass legislation here that is just paper," Kiser said. "It would take 100 police officers at a minimum to enforce this bill. We will feel good, but if you show this bill to the drug men working out there, they will tell you that it's unenforceable." The bill includes several other provisions to help law enforcement. It allows them greater access to the records of the medicines' whole distributors, and it allows judges and magistrates to take methamphetamine use into account when determining bail. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin