Representative Plans Pseudoephedrine Bill With Narrower Scope

by Rose Krzton-Presson, Kentucky Public RadioThe Kentucky General Assembly reconvenes tomorrow and Representative Brent Yonts, D-15, is poised to reignite the debate over how best to fight meth.Yonts has pre-filed a bill to restrict the sale of certain cold medicines to convicts, in hopes it will prevent them from using the medicine to make meth. Many over-the-counter medicines contain pseudoephedrine (PSE), which is essential to meth manufacturing. Yonts's proposal would require anyone convicted of a meth-related crime to have a prescription in order to buy medicines that contain PSE.It's a scaled-down version of laws in Oregon and Mississippi that require anyone buying PSE to have a prescription. The states claim the measures have significantly curtailed meth manufacturing, but Yonts says they're too restrictive.“On Saturday night when their kids have the sniffles all of a sudden, [parents] can’t get it without going to the doctor, paying a co-pay, paying a deductible, then having to go wait in a pharmacy line," he says.A bill similar to those in Oregon and Mississippi failed in the General Assembly last year.