Pubdate: Thu, 03 Mar 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Note: Source rarely prints LTEs received from outside its circulation area
Author: Deborah Yetter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH LAB BILL NEARS FINAL PASSAGE

Measure Also Goes After Internet Drugs

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A bill aimed at curbing Kentucky's growing 
methamphetamine problem and regulating prescription drugs sold over the 
Internet moved closer to becoming law yesterday.

Senate Bill 63 passed the House 97-0 and is expected to pass the Senate and 
receive Gov. Ernie Fletcher's signature.

Originally two bills, the combination represents Kentucky's broadest 
drug-control bill in recent years, supporters said.

"This may be, in my opinion, the most important bill we pass this session," 
said House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown.

The bill will require pharmacies to keep cold and allergy medication with 
pseudoephedrine behind the counter or in a locked cabinet. Pseudoephedrine 
is a key ingredient for making meth.

Customers will be limited to buying medications containing 9 grams of 
pseudoephedrine per month, or about 300 Sudafed tablets, and will be 
required to show an ID and sign a log.

The bill also will strengthen a law used to prosecute meth manufacturers, 
create a law making it illegal to make meth in the presence of children and 
hold meth makers liable for the cost of cleaning up labs.

The measure also will help the state regulate Internet pharmacies that sell 
drugs without valid prescriptions.

Felecia Peacock of Bowling Green, a former meth user who works at a halfway 
house for recovering addicts, said she thinks the legislation will help 
curb meth abuse.

But to combat the problem effectively, she said, the state must also expand 
resources for treatment.

"This war on drugs is definitely something that we're losing," Peacock said.

The Courier-Journal reported in December that meth has spread rapidly 
through Kentucky, clogging jails and prisons, ravaging families and 
increasing demand for drug treatment. It found that the state had failed to 
keep pace with other states by more closely regulating the sale of cold and 
allergy medications.

"This is a great first step   for the major fight we're in against meth and 
other drugs," Lt. Gov. Steve Pence said of yesterday's vote, which he 
watched from the House floor.

As Justice secretary, Pence helped draft the bill, which goes back to the 
Senate for consideration of a House committee's amendment merging the 
Internet drug sale provisions with the meth crackdown. Amendments withdrawn

Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, the bill's sponsor, said he foresees no 
problem with the combined bill passing the Senate, and Pence said he will 
continue to work for its final passage.

He said Gov. Ernie Fletcher is ready to sign the bill, which will take 
effect 90 days after the session ends.

The bill had been controversial with retailers and a few lawmakers because 
it would impose new restrictions on tablets of over-the-counter cold and 
allergy medicines such as Sudafed and Claritin D.

The House delayed voting on the bill after Rep. Frank Rasche, D-Paducah, 
filed two amendments that Stivers had said would gut the bill by loosening 
those restrictions.

But Rasche withdrew the amendments yesterday, saying it was not his intent 
to weaken the measure.

"Meth is an atrocious scourge on society," Rasche said.

He had proposed letting any retailer sell over-the-counter cold medication 
and changing the bill to increase the number of tablets people could buy 
per month.

"I'm just trying to think about the consumer," he said.

Joel Thornbury, a Pikeville pharmacist and president of the Kentucky 
Pharmacists Association, said he believes the restrictions will help the 
meth problem, even though it means more work for pharmacists.

"Pharmacists, we are busy," he said. "But it is to help law enforcement, 
and I support that."

State Rep. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, echoed Peacock's comments when she spoke 
on behalf of the bill, calling on the state to offer more drug treatment.

"It's a crucial part of solving the entire problem," Webb said.

Pence said the administration is committed to expanding treatment. Internet 
drug buying

Attorney General Greg Stumbo pushed the Internet drug portion of the bill, 
which would crack down on so-called "rogue pharmacies" that ship drugs to 
customers in Kentucky without valid prescriptions.

Stumbo said such drug orders have been an especially acute problem in his 
home region of Eastern Kentucky.

Thornbury said he supports efforts to restrict Internet access to such 
drugs as narcotic painkillers and tranquilizers. He said such access allows 
people to bypass doctors and pharmacists and can lead to abuse and 
diversion of addictive drugs.

The bill requires out-of-state pharmacies that do business in Kentucky to 
be certified through a national board. It also authorizes the state Board 
of Pharmacy to regulate them in Kentucky and requires them to post a valid 
return address and proof of certification. The state could seize any 
shipments without those labels.

It also requires people who order such drugs to have a valid prescription 
and have had a recent, face-to-face consultation with a physician.
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