HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - State lawmakers want to make it harder for criminals to get their hands on the meth ingredient pseudoephedrine, obtained from medicines like Sudafed.
One bill aims to make pseudoephedrine prescription only, but next week, a Valley senator is offering what could be a less bitter pill to swallow.
Whenever he catches a cold, Shawn Tate likes taking sinus-clearing drugs with pseudoephedrine. Now those meds are usually behind the counter, but he feels other cold remedies are a poor substitute: “Some of the over the counter drugs don't always help you all the time, you know, and that's unfortunate."
House Bill 88 would make drugs with pseudoephedrine prescription-only, which Tate feels would be more expensive, and a pain. State Senator Bill Holtzclaw agrees, and is about to offer an alternative.
Holtzclaw explains, “Obviously there are people with cold and flu season upon us that are purchasing it and using it, and we don't want to impact that. But there's also some bad guys that are purchasing and utilizing it in their making of meth, and that's what we intend to put the brakes on."
Holtzclaw will introduce the bill this Tuesday that he says law enforcement and drug retailers helped create. It would streamline control of pseudoephedrine by putting it behind the counter everywhere; right now some convenience stores still sell it on the shelves.
The bill would also create a state-wide online database that records and instantly updates each time someone buys the drug. Holtzclaw says, “Literally, if someone went to a CVS and then went across the street to a Rite-Aid, the law enforcement's going to know and be able to put the breaks on the meth."
Still, some feel putting it behind the counter isn't enough. Huntsville resident Patty Smith knows people who have been hooked on meth, and feels more needs to be done to stop the problem: “I think that you should have to have a prescription to get it because of the meth problems now, these children are being caught in situations they shouldn't have to live in."
