INDIANAPOLIS —
Over the objection of state police, an Indiana House committee has approved a bill that would require electronic tracking of cold medicines used in making methamphetamine.
Opponents of the bill said it will do little to stop the rise in clandestine meth labs, which have doubled since 2006 when the state put its first limits on the sale of decongestants — key ingredients in meth.
“We have to stop the infestation of meth in our communities,” said Gary Ashenfelter of the Indiana Drug Enforcement Association, a voluntary association of local, state and federal drug investigators. “This won’t do it.”
The Indiana State Police Alliance, whose members include state troopers and drug investigators, also opposed the bill. Alliance members were pushing for a bill — which died in both the House and the Senate —that would have made products that contain ephedrine and pseudoephedrine available only by prescription.
But supporters of the bill, including its author, Sen. Carlin Yoder, a Republican from Middlebury, said an electronic-tracking system would make it harder for meth-makers to obtain the drugs without inconveniencing legitimate users of the cold medicines.
The House public health committee voted 8-2 on Tuesday to advance the bill to the full House. The bill would limit people to buying cold medicines containing 7.2 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine in a 30-day period.
It would require that an electronic-tracking system be implemented by retailers around the state, and would prevent the sale of the medicines to anyone who had reached their legal limit. A Senate version of the bill sets the limit at 9 grams.
Rep. Rebecca Kubacki, a Republican from Syracuse, spoke against the bill. She cited recent fatalities in and around her community linked to explosions of meth labs, which use volatile chemicals in the process.
She said electronic-tracking efforts in other states have failed to curb the illicit manufacturing of methamphetamine. She also criticized the big-chain retailers that have supported ad campaigns urging consumers to oppose legislation that would have required a doctor’s prescription for the cold medicines used to make meth. “Consider the people who don’t have the buy ads,” Kubacki said.
Rep. Tim Brown, a doctor who chairs the House public health committee, said many of his colleagues understand what he called the “scourge of methamphetamine” but aren’t ready to make it harder for legitimate users of the cold medicines to combat it.
“It’s taking away a freedom from the majority to go after the minority that’s abusing that freedom,” Brown said.
Maureen Hayden is statehouse bureau chief for CNHI’s Indiana newspapers. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com.
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