National magazine looks at drug companies' efforts to stop anti-methamphetamine bills, especially in Kentucky

In a strong piece of investigative reporting for Mother Jones magazine, largely about Kentucky, freelancer Jonah Engle delves into the history of how making methamphetamine became a simple task via over-the-counter cold medications, and how drug makers have warded off most state laws intended to make the decongestant pseudoephedrine more difficult to purchase. (Photo by Stacy Kranitz: Cleaning up a meth lab found on school property in London.)

Engle's well-rounded story examines the issue from the viewpoints of politics, law enforcement, drug users and the effects of their habits on their children, while looking at how small-town life -- especially in Kentucky, where meth-related cleanup and law enforcement cost the state $30 million in 2009 -- has been hit hard by the drug. When a bill in 2011 to require a prescription for pseudoephedrine, a Washington-based group representing the makers and distributors of over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements, reportedly spent more than $303,000 in three weeks, with most of the money spent on "robocalls," or automated telephone messages. The bill failed, but in 2012 the legislature passed a law with a tighter limit on the amount of pseudoephedrine anyone can buy in a month, after a strong radio advertising campaign by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. The drug is kept behind counters so purchases can be tracked but does not require a prescription.

Engle tells a tragic story of meth in many states, ever since 2007, when the process called "shake-and-bake" or "one-pot" method, became commonplace. "The number of clandestine meth sites discovered by police has increased 63 percent nationwide," Engel writes. "As law enforcement agencies scramble to clean up and dispose of toxic labs, prosecute cooks, and find foster homes for their children, they are waging two battles: one against destitute, strung-out addicts, the other against some of the world's wealthiest and most politically connected drug manufacturers. In the past several years, lawmakers in 25 states have sought to make pseudoephedrine—the one irreplaceable ingredient in a shake-and-bake lab—a prescription drug. In all but two—Oregon and Mississippi—they have failed as the industry has deployed all-star lobbying teams and campaign-trail tactics such as robocalls and advertising blitzes."

In Oregon, the number of meth labs found by police dropped 96 percent since the bill was passed, while in Mississippi the number dropped 74 percent, Engle writes. "Children are no longer being pulled from homes with meth labs, and police officers have been freed up to pursue leads instead of cleaning up labs and chasing smurfers. In 2008, Oregon experienced the largest drop in violent-crime rates in the country. By 2009, property crime rates fell to their lowest in 43 years. That year, overall crime in Oregon reached a 40-year low. The state's Criminal Justice Commission credited the pseudoephedrine prescription bill, along with declining meth use, as key factors."

"Everywhere else, industry has prevailed," Engle reports. "Many states have very limited laws on what lobbyists must report, and they don't monitor spending on robocalls or ads. But news reports and my interviews with legislators in Southeastern and Midwestern states where meth labs are most concentrated—and where CHPA had the biggest fight on its hands—show that the pharmaceutical industry deployed a mix of robocalls, print and radio ads, as well as a Facebook page and a website, stopmethnotmeds.com. These states include Alabama, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee." (Read more)

Over-the-counter drug makers start campaign to educate potential meth 'smurfers' about consequences of their actions

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

The lobby for makers of over-the-counter drugs, which has fought laws to tighten controls on sale of cold medicine that is used to make methamphetamine, is starting a public-education campaign to discourage evasion of the system that tracks purchases of pseudoephedrine. The targeted states are Kentucky and Alabama, which could be key to preventing passage of laws like the one in Mississippi, which requires a prescription for pseudoephedrine. UPDATE, 4/19/13: Missouri has been added.

The Consumer Products Healthcare Association rolled out the campaign in Alabama last month. It joined with the Kentucky Pharmacists Association and the Kentucky Retail Federation yesterday to announce the program in Kentucky, and won the blessing of its primary adversary in the state's legislative battle, Senate Republican Leader Robert Stivers of Manchester. Also on hand at Wheeler's Pharmacy in Lexington was Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, who had stayed out of the fight until he signed the bill.

Stivers, who is in line to become Senate president, was asked if the drug makers' move signaled a truce in the battle. He indicated that he would wait to see the impact of this year's law, which reduced the amount of pseudoephedrine that can be bought during one a month, before trying to tighten it. "Let's look at the history and see what happens," he said. Earlier, he said: "I appreciate the fact that they're coming here in a very conciliatory way, a very open way, to say we all know there is a problem."

Beshear noted that fewer meth labs have been found in Kentucky this year, but said the success of the law depends on educating the public: "As laws are passed, criminals adapt and find new ways of getting around them."

Preventing that is the goal of CHPA's "Anti-Smurfing Campaign," named for the practice of meth makers using others, "smurfs," to buy pseudoephedrine for them. Beshear noted that the new law makes smurfing a felony, and said the posters are "designed to make smurfers think twice" and "think of the moral and criminal consequences of their actions." He told cn|2 Politics, "I think will be a good deterrent in this situation."

CHPA's director of state government affairs, Carlos Gutiérrez, said the posters were tested in 2011 with focus groups of Kentuckians and strike a balance of educating potential smurfers without alarming law-abiding buyers of pseudoephedrine.

In its efforts to kill Stivers' prescription bill during the 2012 legislative session, CHPA spent more than any other lobbying group has ever reported spending on a legislative session, and that did not include hundreds of thousands of dollars it spent on radio commercials urging listeners to lobby legislators about the bill. Lobbies in Kentucky do not have to report what they spend on such indirect lobbying. Guiterrez was asked if CHPA would do that, and he said he would look into it.

UK study definitively shows that meth labs proliferate in state's counties where pseudoephedrine sales are high

A University of Kentucky research study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week shows a direct correlation between pseudoephedrine sales and methamphetamine production in Kentucky counties. Pdeudoephedrine, the main ingredient in Sudafed and similar decongestants, is the key feedstock for meth labs. The General Assembly further limited its sale this year.

“We find that counties where more pseudoephedrine is sold, more methamphetamine lab seizures are reported. Even though Kentucky requires pseudoephedrine sales to be tracked electronically, in real-time, the per-capita sales in some counties appear to be aberrant. Our results indicate a 565-fold variation in pseudoephedrine sales between counties. It is highly improbable that demand for pseudoephedrine in these counties is solely due to cough/cold/allergy,” explained Jeffrey Talbert, director of the College of  Pharmacy's Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy.

The other authors of the study are College of Pharmacy faculty members Karen Blumenschein and Trish Freeman, staff member Amy Burke, and Arnold Stromberg of UK’s Department of Statistics. For a copy of their report, click here.

Meds-for-meth bill drew record lobbying expenses, not even including radio and newspaper ad campaigns

Makers of over-the-counter drugs spent more than any lobbying interest ever had during a single Kentucky legislative session in their effort to defeat a bill requiring prescriptions for the key ingredient in methamphetamine, Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"The Consumer Healthcare Products Association spent $457,053 on lobbying activities in the first three months of this year's legislative session, according to reports filed with the state Legislative Ethics Commission," Estep writes. "The group's lobbying effort was so dominant that it spent more than the next five groups combined in that period, January through March, according to spending reports."

And the figure doesn't even included hundreds of thousands of dollars that the trade group spent on radio and newspaper campaigns, because the lobby-reporting requirements do not apply to messages aimed only at the general public. The group did report spending on "a phone-bank operation to put people in contact with legislators to voice concerns about legislation to require a prescription for medicine containing pseudoephedrine, which is now available over the counter," Estep writes.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/30/2170495/makers-of-cold-medicines-set-new.html#storylink=cpy

The efforts, dating back to 2010, were partly successful. The legislature passed a bill "that will require a doctor's prescription for pseudoephedrine, but only after someone has bought 24 grams of the medicine a year," Estep notes. "A 48-count box of the generic medicine with 30-milligram pills contains 1.44 grams of pseudoephedrine. The bill excludes limits on gel caps and liquid pseudoephedrine." (Read more)

The lobbying effort wasn't only about Kentucky. The makers of Sudafed and other pseudoephedrine preparations are trying to stave off similar efforts in other states, and viewed Kentucky as a sort of firewall after seeing prescription-only laws pass in Oregon and Mississippi.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/30/2170495/makers-of-cold-medicines-set-new.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/30/2170495/makers-of-cold-medicines-set-new.html#storylink=cpy

'Meds for meth' bill is about to become law despite heavy lobbying campaign by pharmaceutical companies

The bill to limit purchases of a popular cold medicine used to make methamphetamine passed the General Assembly today and Gov. Steve Beshear said he would sign it.

The Senate voted 29-8 to approve changes the House made in Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, left. The bill would require a prescription to buy more than 7.2 grams of pseudoephedrine in a month and 24 grams in a year. "A generic box of pseudoephedrine with 48 pills, each with a 30-milligram dosage, contains 1.44 grams of the medicine," Jack Brammer of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. ""Gel caps and liquid pseudoephedrine would be excluded from the limits in SB 3 because making meth from those forms is considered more difficult."

The bill’s sponsors had wanted lower limits, and initially a prescription for any amount, "but they compromised with opponents who worried about inconveniencing cold and allergy sufferers," Brammer notes. "The pharmaceutical industry has lobbied aggressively against the state requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine at any level," ranking first in reported lobbying expenses without even counting its extensive advertising campaign. The industry apparently viewed Kentucky as a sort of firewall, the absence of which could make passage of similar "meds for meth" bills in other states. Only Oregon and Mississippi now have such legislation.

Makers of Sudafed, similar cold medicines again lead in legislative lobbying expenses, and that doesn't count their radio ad campaign

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which is fighting legislation that would limit the amount of pseudoephedrine that could be bought without a prescription, remained the leading spender among lobbying interests at the General Assembly in February, the state Legislative Ethics Commission said in its monthly newsletter.

CHPA, which represents manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter medicines, spent $192,985 on lobbying in February, and a total of $388,000 for the first two months of the session. Those amounts do not include an extensive radio advertising campaign, which from all indications has cost more than the spending that had to be reported.

Other health-care interests were among the top spenders in February. Ranking second through 11th were the Kentucky Hospital Association ($38,422, for a two-month total of $74,543); the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce ($30,056, two-month total $63,404); Altria (Philip Morris) Client Services ($28,129, two-month $50,434); the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation ($24,805, total $38,655); AT&T ($24,199, total $47,432); the Kentucky Medical Association ($21,958, total $42,731); the Kentucky Education Association ($21,629, total $45,249); the Kentucky Retail Federation ($21,191, total $45,452), which also opposes the meds-for-meth bill; Kentuckians for the Commonwealth ($18,317, total $34,188) and the Kentucky Optometric Association ($18,227, total unavailable).

Meds-for-meth, pain-pill bills each clear a second chamber; both probably headed to conference committee(s)

"State lawmakers gave new life Wednesday to two bills designed to tackle Kentucky's problems with methamphetamine labs and prescription drug abuse," John Cheves and Jack Brammer report for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"On a 60-36 vote, the House approved Senate Bill 3, which would further limit the amount of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine that consumers could buy without a prescription. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient used in making meth. Meanwhile, the Senate approved House Bill 4, which transfers from the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to the attorney general's office an electronic monitoring system that keeps track of prescriptions for pain pills. The vote was 26-9. Both bills are likely to go to conference committees made up of representatives from both chambers, who will try to negotiate a compromise on differences in the House and Senate versions of the bills." (Read more)

House panel OKs "meds for meth" bill; chair predicts passage

The bill to limit purchases of the cold medicine used to make methamphetamine cleared another legislative hurdle Monday, and the chairman of the committee that approved it predicted that it will become law despite a heavy lobbying effort by over-the-counter drug makers.

By a 10-4 vote, the House Judiciary Committee approved a version of Senate Bill 3 that differs slightly from the version passed by the Senate. Rep. John Tilley, a Hopkinsville Democrat and the committee’s chairman, predicted the revised SB 3 will pass on the House floor. "Tilley said Senate leaders have signed off on the changes the House committee made," Jack Brammer reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. The House version clarifies "language regarding prescriptions" and would ban "criminals convicted of meth-related offenses from purchasing pseudoephedrine for a five-year period," Mike Wynn of The Courier-Journal reports.

The core of the bill would allow consumers without meth records to buy 7.2 grams of medicines with pseudoephedrine each month, approximately a two-week dose, and up to 24 grams per year, without a prescription. Another 7.5 grams a month or 90 grams a year could be available with a prescription. "Experts have testified that those amounts are adequate for most cold and allergy sufferers, and more than 90 percent of all purchasers use dosages that fall below the proposed thresholds," Wynn reports. "State law already limits purchases to 9 grams per month, with a yearly cap of 108 grams, and purchasers are required to present a photo ID and sign a log at the point of sale."

The bill would not apply to gelcaps, which are more difficult to use for meth, or liquids, which are used for children. (Read more)

Senate committee narrowly passes meds-for-meth bill as advocates start their own radio advertising campaign

In the face of a strong lobbying effort by makers of over-the-counter cold medicines, a state Senate committee narrowly approved a bill today that would require a prescription for most products containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient used to make methamphetamine.

Senate Bill 50, approved 6-5 by the Judiciary Committee, is sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, left, but he said he isn't sure of its chances in the full Senate, reports Jack Brammer of the Lexington Herald-Leader. A similar bill got out of committee last year but never came to a vote on the Senate floor because it lacked the votes to pass. This year's bill would not apply to gelcaps, which are more difficult to use in meth making.

The Kentucky State Police recorded about 1,200 meth labs last year, and former meth addict Melanda Adams, from Stivers' home Clay County, told the committee she believed the bill would "cut the burgeoning number of dangerous home-made meth labs in the state." The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a non-profit that represents the over-the-counter medicine industry, argues that requiring a prescription would "create a hardship for legitimate consumers," reports Jessie Halladay of The Courier-Journal.

Only Oregon and Mississippi have passed such laws, so Kentucky has become a firewall for the drug makers' lobby, which has bought many radio commercials urging people to contact senators in opposition to the bill, contending it would "punish Kentucky families" and pushing an alternative measure that would bar people convicted of meth making from buying the medicines. Opponents of that bill say meth makers would continue to use surrogates to buy the medicines for them. Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, who voted for SB 50, called the radio ads "scare tactics." UPDATE: For more on the lawmakers' complaints about the ads, from cn|2 Politics, click here.

As of Feb. 3, the group had spent more than $82,000 running ads on Louisville, Lexington and Somerset radio stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's largest radio operator, according to public-inspection files at those stations. In 2011, CHPA paid the Kentucky Association of Radio and Television more than $93,000 to run ads, according to public-inspection files from Cummulus Broadcasting, another major owner of stations in Kentucky.

UPDATE, Feb. 17: The drug makers have a 60-second ad from Pat Davis, who identifies herself as "a Kentucky resident for over 20 years" and the mother of six children who all "battle allergies." She is not identified as the wife of 4th District U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, who is not seeking re-election. She testified against last year's bill. Here is the ad, via Page One Kentucky, a popular blog that has been critical of the legislation.

The drug makers' ads have been running uncontested for two months, but this week a group headed by Knox and Laurel County's Commonwealth's Attorney Jackie Steele, Real Facts About Meth, offered a counter-ad, describing the impact of meth on communities. The group does not appear to be well funded; its website solicits contributions.

Conway supports, P'Pool opposes meds-for-meth law; Conway defends decsion not to join lawsuits about federal health reform

In a debate where most of the sparks flew over often-specious questions about conflicts of interest, one of the biggest substantive disagreements between the candidates for attorney general Monday night was about whether to require a prescription for the cold medicine used to make methamphetamine. They also debated President Obama's health-care reform law.

Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway. left, said he supports such a law, which failed in this year's General Assembly, while Hopkins County Attorney Todd P'Pool, right, said he opposes it. The candidates were interviewed by Bill Goodman on KET's "Kentucky Tonight" as part of a series of debates between statewide candidates in the Nov. 8 election.

Republican P'Pool, the first to respond to Goodman's question, said he opposes making pseudoephedrine a scheduled drug because "I think it creates a burden for law-abiding citizens. . . . Let's don’t put a burden on soccer moms." He said he would support "a lifetime ban," which he did not explain, "for anyone convicted of a meth crime."

Conway said his position in favor of scheduling "is not the most politically popular position," but said he responded to a plea from "my friend Hal Rogers," the Republican congressman from Somerset who is a leading advocate. "I know it's not popular with some soccer moms," Conway said, and "I know it's inconvenient" to require a prescription, "but when you see a kid in a burn unit that’s gone through a meth lab it tears your heart." He said children at present at 80 percent of meth labs.

Conway said he is open to changing his position if opponents can show him how to prevent "smurfing," the use of surrogates to avoid the recordkeeping of pseudoephedrine purchases. He said many drug stories do not use the online recordkeeping system. He added that Oregon and Mississippi had "dramatic declines" in the number of meth labs after they scheduled pseudoephedrine.

P'Pool began the debate by sharply criticizing Conway's decision not to join lawsuits by Republican attorneys general challenging the constitutionality of the federal health-reform law: "He's absent form the fight against Obamacare … because he supports Barack Obama and his re-election." Conway replied, "I'm not gonna take some of the valuable resourecs of the office of the attorney general and put 'em on a lawsuit on health care when it’s an issue that’s gonna get decided anyway." He said some attorneys general are supporting the law in court, and "I didn’t join them either because I wanted to focus on Kentucky first."

As Goodman pressed the point, P'Pool said, "It’s really not about health care; it's about the proper role of the federal government." He said Kentucky could join the case with the stroke of a pen, but "My opponent has not been bashful in his support of Barack Obama and that’s why he’s on the sidelines."

Conway replied that the lawsuit "might undo some of the underpinning" of Social Security and Medicare laws. "This is not a perfect bill; some things need to be fixed in health-care reform," he said, but he implicitly defended the bill's requirement to buy health insurance: "It costs Americans on average $46 billion a year to cover the uninsured," he said. "They’re going to the emergency room to get their care … They’re already in the market. This is about being more efficient."

Click here for a story on the debate by Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal. Video of the debate is posted online here.

As meds-for-meth bill dies, backer asks colleagues to find solution

The bill that would have required prescriptions for three popular decongestants used to make methamphetamine "was buried today, but not without a eulogy and a promise to resurrect it," Renee Shaw reported for Kentucky Educational Television.

KET's coverage was highlighted by parts of a floor speech from the bill's sponsor, Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, who challenged his colleagues to come up with a solution to the meds-for-meth problem. "We're waiting for something very terrible to happen by not acting on this," he said. Holding out the prospects of wrecks, fires, explosions and other accidents meth makers could cause, he warned, "A tragedy's gonna happen here and then we're all really gonna feel bad."

Shaw noted that lobbies opposing the bill had creating "polarizing publicity" with radio and full-page newspaper advertising. A Senate committee approved the bill on a bipartisan 6-4 vote early last month but the measure never attracted enough support to gain a vote in the full Senate.

"If my solution is not the answer, figure out a way," Jensen pleaded. In another floor speech, Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, thanked Jensen for his work and said, "We have a tremendous problem here . . . I'm like him. Tell us what we need to do."

Sponsor of meds-for-meth bill now willing to accept compromise excluding gel capsules and liquids

Legislators wanting to pass a bill that would make the key component to make methamphetamine available only by prescription are now willing to make a concession that they would not accept last week.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said "supporters of the bill are considering excluding cold medicines in gel or liquid capsule form," the Lexington Herald-Leader's Beth Musgrave reports. It is more difficult to extract pseudoephedrine in cold medicines that come in gel or liquid capsule form, though it's unclear how much more difficult.

When Kentucky Health News first broached the idea to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, last week, Jensen said he was not willing to make comprises on the bill, though it lacked the votes to pass the Senate. Now he seems to have had a change of heart. "If that would get it passed, we would certainly do it," said Jensen, right. "I have not talked to enough people yet who have said that would change their minds."

Democratic Rep. Linda Belcher of Shepherdsville, who has a similar bill in the House, said the change would help, because more legislators would vote for it because there would still be some cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, which helps combat symptoms from allergies, on the market.

Drug industry lobbyists, however, rejected the compriomise. "According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, PSE (pseudoephedrine) in gel cap or liquid formations is 'readily extractible,' meaning it can still be used illegally to make meth," said Elizabeth Funderburk, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.

Senate Bill 45 would make ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylproppanolamine available only by prescription. It is similar to legislation that has passed in Oregon and Mississippi, where there has reportedly been a radical drop in the incidence of meth labs. The bill has been repeatedly passed over since being approved 6-4 by the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Read more)

As meds-for-meth bill languishes, some seek compromise, but bill's sponsor says proposals would render it ineffective

By Al Cross and Tara Kaprowy
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

As the bill to require prescriptions for three widely used decongestants remains short of votes to pass the Senate, there is talk of a compromise measure to thwart the use of the medicines for making methamphetamine. But the bill's sponsor says he is not open to the compromises he's heard.

"We want to go with something that works," said Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London. "What has worked is what they've done in Oregon and Mississippi. What they have done is make a controlled substance out of pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine," and greatly reduced the number of meth labs.

Lobbyists for drug manufacturers are circulating alternative proposals, such as applying the prescription rule only to the estimated 5,500 people convicted of a drug-related crime. Another industry proposal would cut the annual non-prescription purchase limit by more than half, from 108 grams per year to 50.

Jensen dismissed those proposals, saying they would do nothing to curtail "smurfing," meth makers' use of people who are paid to buy ingredients. "Some of them are homeless, some of them are college kids, some of them come from poor backgrounds," Jensen said of the buyers. "They've got fake IDs, they've got GPS systems showing all the pharmacies in the area, and they'll hit them very quickly." He added, "Even trying to limit (per-month consumption) has created a whole other problem. We have a whole lot of people who are getting involved in criminal activity who probably don't even know it."

The current monitoring system keeps the decongestants behind the counter and requires buyers to register. Under federal law, individuals may not buy more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine in a 30-day period.

Last week on the Jack Pattie Show on Lexington's WVLK-AM, Louisville drug officer Stanley Salyards said he would accept a bill that would require prescriptions only for pills containing the three decongestants, since making meth from gelcaps and liquid preparations is very difficult. Two other police officers on the program indicated agreement.

Jensen rejected that idea today, saying his Senate Bill 45 would apply to only 15 products, and "All the other cold and flu medicines are still out there."

A Senate committee approved the bill on a 6-4 bipartsan vote last week, but the full Senate has passed over it for more than a week, and Jensen acknowledged in today's interview that it lacks the votes to pass.

He said manufacturers of the 15 cold remedies "have spent a tremendous amount of money opposing it and getting a lot of misinformation out there ... We, unfortunately, don't have the funds to get out and make full-page ads and radio statements and TV commercials that say 'That's just not true.'" For example, the ads say the registration and tracking system is effective, but the law-enforcement officers on the radio show last week said it is not.

Opponents of the bill say having to get prescriptions would increase costs for cold and allergy sufferers, and meth makers would simply cross state lines to get their supplies. The opponents are backed not only by heavy spending, but by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber has suggested "banning all online retail sales, distribution and shipment of products containing ephedrine and/or pseudoephedrine from non-Kentucky licensed pharmacies to individuals in Kentucky."

Rep. David Floyd, R-Bardstown, filed a bill last week to make the pill forms of the three substances “legend” drugs, those that are "available through the determination of a pharmacist or by prescription," reports The Kentucky Standard of Bardstown. "It would not be classified as a controlled substance." The bill would also prohibit purchases of any of the three medicines by anyone under 18 without a prescription.

“While many of us are sympathetic to those who have been adversely affected by the meth trade in Kentucky, I don’t believe making pseudoephedrine only available via a doctor’s prescription will curtail the meth problem in our commonwealth,” Floyd said in a press release. “By placing more responsibility on pharmacists who already have a monitoring system for pseudoephedrine sales, we can gain better control on those who are purchasing the product to make meth while not punishing those who need pseudoephedrine for legitimate health purposes.”

Floyd's House Bill 376, which he said he wrote after consulting with Bardstown pharmacists, would allow pharmacists to dispense the drugs to "a person evidencing physical symptoms treatable by those products," according to the bill summary, and "would require pharmacists to ask a series of questions to those trying to purchase a pseudoephedrine product," the Standard reports. It would also require thrm to put the information into the state's electronic tracking system for prescriptions.

"Local pharmacist Leon Claywell already uses a screening system to determine why a customer is buying medicine containing pseudoephedrine, Floyd said. If he thinks it is not for a legitimate purpose, he refuses to sell it," the Standard reports.

Governor undecided on meds-for-meth bill, says time hasn't come for state smoking ban, but may back nursing-home legislation

By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

Gov. Steve Beshear says he hasn't made up his mind about the bill that would require prescriptions for decongestants used to make methamphetamine, but he sounds skeptical. And he doesn't think Kentucky is ready for a statewide smoking ban, but he might endorse legislation to better protect residents of nursing homes.

Beshear addressed the three health issues under questioning from Bill Bryant of Lexington's WKYT-TV on the latest "Kentucky Newsmakers," broadcast today. To watch the broadcast, click here.

"I'm personally conflicted" about the meds-for-meth bill, Beshear said, but his more specific remarks indicated skepticism. He said people in law enforcement are "pushing very hard" for the bill, and noted that such a law greatly reduced the number of meth labs in Oregon, and might do the same in Mississippi, but he suggested the numbers might go back up.

"They’ll just go across the state line and get it across the counter," he said of meth makers, adding that the problem needs a national solution, perhaps like Kentucky's registration-and-reporting system for sales of pseudoephedrine and other decongestants. "You're going to have to have a system that applies in every state," he said. "I'm concerned about the millions of people who need to go buy cold medicine."

Bryant noted that law-enforcement officials say most pseudoephedrine sold in Kentucky goes to make meth, and asked Beshear if those officials had convinced him of the need for a prescription law. "I haven’t heard that statistic," Beshear said, reiterating his indecision. "It’s tough one because there isn’t any easy answer to it."

The meds-for-meth bill is one of the legislature's major issues, with drug manufacturers finacing heavy advertising campaigns against it but major political figures in Appalachian Kentucky weighing in for it. On Thursday, the bill pased a Senate committee on a bipartsan 6-4 vote after competing testimony from 5th District U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers and Pat Davis, the wife of 4th District Rep. Geoff Davis, all Republicans.

The bill's supporters also include House Speaker Greg Stumbo, the legislature's top Democrat, and Senate President David Williams, the top Republican, who is seeking his party's nomination for governor in the May 17 primary election.

Williams also favors a statewide smoking ban. Beshear, who is unopposed for the Democratic nomination, said Kentucky isn't ready for such a law, but will be once local bans become more prevalent: "Once you start getting experience with it, I think your business community becomes more comfortable with it … and people enjoy it."

The governor said momentum for a statewide ban "is building, but I don’t think we're at the point where everybody in the state is ready to go in that direction." He said his administration took a step against smoking by making cessation programs eligible for Medicaid.

Asked about a Stumbo proposal to ban smoking in cars with children, Beshear called it "an interesting concept" that deserves discussion but said the idea is "probably in the same situation" as a general ban, which has been offered as a bill by Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington.

Williams' opponents in the Republican primary, Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw and Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, oppose a statewide smoking ban. Holsclaw favors local bans, but Moffett said at a recent Kentucky Press Association forum that the dangers of secondhand smoke have been "overblown."

Bryant asked Beshear if he plans to endorse a package of nursing-home legislation. "I’m talking to legislators who have some good ideas on how we can increase the protections to our elderly," the governor said. "We’ve got to do even better. The restrictive part is, we have no money … but that shouldn’t stop us and should not be an excuse for not doing some of the non-monetary things we can do to protect our elderly."

Beshear was not asked about specifics of the package, but for years Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform and other advocates have lobbied for minimum staffing requirements at nursing homes. The long-term care industry, one of the more influential in Frankfort, has beaten back those efforts, arguing that homes need more flexibility and state inspections ensure proper care.

Decongestant prescription bill passes panel; both parties split

After hearing an endorsement from Kentucky's senior member of Congress, and opposition from the wife of another Republican congressman, a state Senate committee voted 6-4 to require precriptions for decongestants that are often used to make methamphetamine.

Fifth District Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers of Somerset made what the Lexington Herald-Leader called "a rare Frankfort appearance" for the bill, at two committee meetings and a Capitol rotunda rally, but perhaps the rarer event was the contrary testimony of a colleague's spouse -- Pat Davis, wife of 4th District Rep. Geoff Davis of Hebron.

Rogers, accompanied by House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Presonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that prescription laws in Mississippi and Oregon greatly reduced the number of meth labs in those states. "Our future is gravely at stake here," Rogers said. He said he was testifying to counter the heavy advertising and lobbying by decongestant manufacturers, who are running full-page newspaper ads and heavy flights of radio commercials.

The radio ads say the MethCheck electronic tracking system designed to prevent multiple purchases of decongestants for meth making "is working" and "effective," and some law-enforcement officials testified likewise yesterday, "but others in law enforcement said that the number of meth labs in Kentucky has skyrocketed even with MethCheck and that most law enforcement officers find meth labs through regular police work, such as traffic stops, not with MethCheck," Jack Brammer writes for the Herald-Leader.

On the other hand, Pat Davis "told the committee that, as a mother of six and grandmother of one, she is concerned the bill will lead to more trips to the emergency room and to the doctor," Brammer reports. Davis said all her children have allergies or asthma, and "This will drive already high medical costs higher."

The two Republican senators on the committee from Davis's district, Jack Westwood of Erlanger and John Schickel of Union, voted against the bill, along with Democrats Perry Clark of Louisville and Jerry Rhoads of Madisonville. Voting for the bill were four Republicans Carroll Gibson of Leitchfield, Tom Jensen of London, Robert Stivers of Manchester and Dan Seum of Louisville, and Democrats Ray Jones of Pikeville and Robin Webb of Grayson.

The division among Republicans appeared to short-circuit Williams' plan to have the full Senate vote on the bill later in the day. No vote was held. (Read more) Jessie Halliday of The Courier-Journal expects a Senate vote next week. (Read more)