Law Aims to Restrict Products in Meth

By Tim Hahn, Erie Times-News, Pa.

Nov. 13–MEADVILLE — Customers at Jack’s Pharmacy on Chestnut Street can pluck Sudafed off the shelves.

But if the state orders the store to keep its pseudoephedrine products behind the counter, pharmacist Joe Cirrincione won’t complain.

“We’ve never had a problem here. Being a small, independent pharmacy, we can monitor it. So we would recognize if it’s a problem or something was suspicious,” Cirrincione said. “But I think it’s a good idea.”

That order might soon come through some proposed legislation under consideration in Harrisburg.

A series of bills under consideration by state legislators aim to restrict access to, and limit the sale of, over-the-counter medicines and other drugs containing ingredients used in making the illegal drug methamphetamine.

Chief among these drugs are those products containing pseudoephedrine, a decongestant used to treat colds and other sinus irritations. It is also the key ingredient in making methamphetamine, also known as meth and crystal meth, a high-powered and highly addictive drug that is made by cooking pseudoephedrine with other dangerous ingredients such as lye and kerosene.

“I think, with the increasing cases of methamphetamine manufacturing and how widespread the use of methamphetamine is, the difficulty we face is that it’s common household products that are often used. So we have to strike a balance between limiting them to those who would abuse them and protecting the rights of consumers in purchasing these products,”said state Rep. Matthew Good of Millcreek, R-3rd Dist.

Good sponsored one of the bills under consideration in Harrisburg that would limit the sale of medicines containing meth “precursors” to no more than nine grams or three boxes per transaction.

Two other bills would require all over-the-counter medications containing ingredients found in meth to be removed from the shelves and placed behind the pharmacy or sales counter.

A bill sponsored by state Rep. John Evans, of Washington Township, R-5th Dist., would require drugs used in meth production to be put into a more stringent drug category. Another under consideration would give the state Secretary of Health the authority to identify chemicals with the potential for abuse, setting the stage for placing restrictions on “precursor substances,” Good said.

Good said the bill giving authority to identify chemicals and one of the bills that would restrict access to medicines with meth precursors are expected to be considered by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

Restricting access to such medicines isn’t a new idea. Many smaller stores and most big pharmacy chains have already removed Sudafed and other products from their shelves and placed them under the control of the pharmacy workers.

Dennis Tobin, regional director of the attorney general’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control, said requiring every store to restrict access to these drugs is another tool for law enforcement in combating a drug problem that has grown steadily in recent years.

“It will be more work for the stores that sell the product, but the product contains the precursors of meth and something has to be done to assist law enforcement in controlling this. We all have to work together because it’s becoming an epidemic, and the epidemic is destroying people’s lives,” Tobin said.

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