Pubdate: Mon, 8 Jun 2009
Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA)
Copyright: 2009 Record Searchlight
Contact:  http://www.redding.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360
Referenced: Senate Bill 484 http://drugsense.org/url/eLhHPuTd
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

PRESCRIPTION BILL TAKES METH FIGHT TOO FAR

The typical doctor's office is busy enough without common-cold 
sufferers coming in for a prescription for cough medicine, but that's 
exactly what will happen if a bill that passed the state Senate last 
week becomes law.

Senate Bill 484, by Sen. Rod Wright, a Southern California Democrat, 
would stretch the reasonable limits on the sale of 
pseudoephedrine-based cold medicines to absurd lengths. In the name 
of stemming methamphetamine, which users and dealers cook up from 
medicines containing pseudoephedrine, SB 484 would require a doctor's 
prescription for the over-the-counter remedies, which many find the 
best way to clear up their runny noses.

If this were the best way to fight the plague of methamphetamine and 
the toxic labs where users distill it, we'd applaud the measure. But it's not.

Existing restrictions on the sale of pseudoephedrine, part of a 2006 
federal law sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, have already worked 
extraordinarily well. That law, as anyone who's tried to buy Sudafed 
lately knows, requires buyers to go to a pharmacy counter, show a 
photo ID, and sign for the medicine, which is only sold in small quantities.

This simple limit causes some inconvenience when honest stuffy-headed 
citizens need it least, but the results are worth it. The National 
Drug Intelligence Center's 2009 methamphetamine report for the 
Pacific region says that from 2004 to 2008, the number of meth labs 
discovered on the West Coast fell 93 percent. Locally, Shasta County 
Sheriff Tom Bosenko says the law has successfully shut down small 
meth labs and the toxic residue they leave behind.

It hasn't, sadly, stopped methamphetamine abuse or sales, but the 
NDIC says that trade is largely fed by drugs manufactured in Mexico 
and smuggled across the border. Only a very small share of meth 
precursor chemicals could still be coming from ordinary retailers.

And if drug cartels are still sending mules from pharmacy to pharmacy 
picking up one package of cold medicine at a time, there are records 
to check for patterns. California could even follow the lead of 
Oklahoma, which has a central database monitoring pseudoephedrine 
sales, preventing - or at least further complicating - illicit repeat buys.

But requiring a prescription for ordinary cold medicine will only 
bring new crowds to clinics, drive up medical costs and pose a severe 
burden to honest citizens whose only crime is not having health 
insurance. Yes, there are alternative cold medicines. For the most 
part, though, they don't work as well.

The north state has seen more than its share of lives ruined by meth, 
and residents are surely willing to put up with reasonable hassles if 
they'd keep the drug off the streets. But requiring prescriptions for 
pseudoephedrine puts a burden on the law-abiding far out of 
proportion to any expected gain.

Our view: The existing limits on pseudoephedrine sales already work 
amazingly well. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake