Both Sides of Law Back Tougher Meth Bill — Measure Makes Cold Remedy Ingredient a Drug Only Pharmacists Could Dispense

JACKSON – The last time Mark Stovall saw narcotics agent Jeff Killion, the lawman was arresting him on methamphetamine charges.

On Wednesday, they met again at a Senate Judiciary B Committee hearing where both of them spoke in favor of strengthening the state’s laws against the highly addictive drug.

Stovall, who kicked his meth habit after his 2001 arrest in Coahoma County on possession charges, said legislation lawmakers are considering “is a good bill.”

The bill would make pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in cold medicine and meth recipes, a drug that could only be handled by a pharmacist or a pharmacist assistant. That means if a person goes to the store for cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine he couldn’t just buy it off the shelf.

The bill was based on an Oklahoma law that resulted in an 80 percent drop in methamphetamine lab seizures.

Stovall, who is now a director of a treatment center for youth in Dublin, said if that law would have been in effect when he was an addict, he probably would have given up the drug.

“If you would have shook the tree just a little … it would have helped. I was too paranoid, I would not have asked someone else to buy it for me,” Stovall told the committee.

Killion, an officer with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, said agents’ lives are at risk when they seize labs. The meth recipe also includes ammonia, lithium and drain cleaner and has the potential for explosions. In addition, he said meth addicts are paranoid and dangerous.

“The effects on us are extreme,” Killion said. “We’re out there at 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning combating these guys, but we need more help.”

Makers of the cold medicine say restricting the drugs to a pharmacist’s counter could place a hardship on some residents. They contend that not all pharmacies are open 24 hours a day. They also said other strategies are just as effective, such as community outreach and awareness.

Jennifer Hawks Bland, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents the industry, said Washington state has experienced more than a 35 percent drop in lab seizures over the past two years. That state put limits on possession, she said.

“Clearly putting these products in pharmacies will reduce labs, but there are other things that will reduce them that still allow the consumer or the sick parent to get medicine for their children at night,” Bland said.

Sen. Stacey Pickering, R-Soso, suggested that lawmakers consider locking up the pseudoephedrine in glass cases as opposed to keeping them behind the counter. He said a store manager could unlock the case if someone needs medicine after the pharmacy has closed.

Atty. Gen. Jim Hood said requesting retailers to give MBN a list of purchases regularly would also help. He said 80 percent of methamphetamine arrests are the result of retailers tipping law enforcement officers.

There are seven methamphetamine bills pending in the Judiciary B Committee; others are pending in the Mississippi House. Judiciary B Chairman Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, said his committee has until Tuesday to act on the bills.

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary A Committee passed a bill that would limit the sale of pseudephedrine-based products to two packages or six grams per transaction. The bill also requires that the medicine be stored behind a counter, in a locked display case or under video-surveillance.

Sen. Sidney Albritton, R-Picayune, who introduced a bill based on Oklahoma law, said he expects there will be some modifications. Albritton said Mississippi may adopt a law that isn’t as stringent.

“We want to balance access for the consumers with reducing the labs,” Albritton said.