Senate panel approves bill to require prescriptions for some cold medicines

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — After hearing emotional testimony from a former meth addict, the Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly approved an anti-meth bill Thursday that would require a prescription for most cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine.

Kentuckians could still purchase gel caps that contain pseudoephedrine without a prescription, since it’s much more difficult to convert the medicine in a gel cap into meth.

The sponsor of Senate Bill 50, Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said he did not know its chances in the full Senate. The legislation died in the Senate last year.

The committee vote was 6 to 5. It came after Melanda Adams, 31, of Clay County told the panel about the horrors of her meth addiction, including substantial weight loss, thinning hair, rotting teeth and “a loss of innocence.”

Adams said she used pseudoephedrine from cold medicines to make meth and believes that the bill will cut the burgeoning number of dangerous home meth labs in the state. State police said Kentucky recorded about 1,200 meth labs last year.

Makers of remedies containing pseudoephedrine strongly oppose requiring a prescription for the products, which reportedly generate billions in sales annually in the United States.

The industry argues that requiring a prescription would create a hardship for legitimate consumers and that there are less intrusive ways to attack the problem.

“Today’s vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of a prescription requirement for common cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine … was a loss for families and workers who depend on these medicines for immediate relief,” the Consumer Healthcare Products Association said in a statement.

Law enforcement officials have told lawmakers that there have been dramatic drops in the number of meth labs in two states — Oregon and Mississippi — that require prescriptions for over-the-counter cold and allergy medicine containing pseudoephedrine.

Vic Brown, a retired state police lieutenant and deputy director of the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, told the Senate committee Thursday about three small children in Leslie County who received chemical burns from meth labs in early 2011.

Jeremy Triplett, with the state police crime lab, offered testimony on meth preparation. He said 15 percent of the labs experience fires or explosions.

The committee saw a video about the intensity of a meth fire in a two-liter bottle.

Triplett also said it is “very difficult” to remove harmful residuals from meth labs and that he knew of no other substitute for pseudoephedrine as readily available in making meth.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Tom Jensen said it costs about $1,500 to clean up a meth lab.

The most compelling testimony came from Adams, who said she started on drugs at age 11 as an act of rebellion in a good family.

Adams said she started using meth at age 20 and used it for four years.

She showed the committee a photo of her mug shot when she was arrested on drug charges.

“Look at the eyes in this picture,” she said. “They’re wild, scary.”

After using meth, Adams said she and her colleagues often would discard their home-made labs on the sides of roads and streams and gave no thought to harmful residuals.

Adams said she spent three months in jail, six months in rehabilitation and five years on probation.
Committee members praised her courage for speaking on Thursday.

Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, read two letters from constituents who said that requiring prescriptions for certain cold medicines would be unfair to law-abiding citizens.

Schickel voted against the bill. Others voting against it were Sens. Perry Clark, D-Louisville; Jerry Rhoads, D-Madisonville; Dan Seum, R-Louisville; and Katie Stine, R-Southgate.

Voting for the bill were Sens. Stivers; Jensen; Carroll Gibson, R-Leitchfield; Ray Jones, D-Pikeville; Brandon Smith, R-Hazard; and Robin Webb, D-Grayson.

Jones said opponents of the bill should be ashamed of their “scare tactics” in the media, a reference to a statewide radio and Internet ad campaign against the bill by the trade industry.

Filed Under: KY General Assembly • State Government