Lawmaker wants to ban drugs like Sudafed

associated press ^ | January 10, 2005

[Dog Gone]

AUSTIN - A state senator who wants to eliminate from the market drugs that contain mainly pseudoephedrine has introduced a series of four bills for returning lawmakers.

Under the legislation by Sen. Craig Estes, no one would be able to buy drugs like Sudafed in Texas. But he said consumers could still buy other congestion remedies containing the decongestant, as long as it is mixed into capsules and cough syrups.

"We hope the general public will realize that a little inconvenience will go a long way," Estes, R-Wichita Falls, told the Scripps Howard Austin bureau in Monday's editions of the Abilene Reporter-News.

In Oklahoma, passage of state legislation last spring that banned store sales of popular medications like Sudafed and Claritin-D that contain pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in methamphetamine, was credited with reducing the number of methamphetamine labs during the first six months of 2004.

Police and prosecutors have been "inundated by meth abusers and cookers" who have crossed into Texas after Oklahoma outlawed over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in methamphetamine production, Estes said.

Restricting sales of common cold remedies that contain the illegal drug's key ingredient could aid in the fight against drugs, said Capt. Doug Kunkle of the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin.

"It will really reduce the amount of meth they will cook here," Kunkle said. "Anything that can bring us relief ... will be helpful."

DPS officials and other law officers, in a 12-month period that ended in May 2004, busted 934 labs. That number represents a 167 percent increase over a 12-month period ending in December 2002.

"This is drug that is terribly addictive and leads to death and destruction of family and property," Estes said. "It's an overwhelming problem."

The 79th Legislature opens Tuesday

[Dog Gone]

I'm not disputing the horrors of meth. What I'm saying is that these measures won't stop it. We've made it pretty inconvenient to grow marijuana or to import cocaine. The notion that making me sign for Sudafed at the pharmacy is going to seriously impact the meth industry is naive.

Sure, you can probably point to local successes where such measures have been implemented, but I doubt there's been a reduction in meth use. The manufacturing of it has simply shifted to a more convenient spot.

Ban Sudafed entirely in the US and you'll have it made across the border. You haven't accomplished a damn thing except to punish allergy sufferers.

[GOPrincess]

It's an interesting contrast that the same liberals who are horrified at the notion that our library records could be checked with probable cause in the name of homeland security are perfectly comfortable collecting personal data and invading the privacy of law-abiding citizens without any probable cause whatsoever.

I am deeply disturbed to read tonight that Republican Senator Jim Talent is co-sponsoring a bill with Sen. Feinstein to regulate drugs like Sudafed, that will include computerized records of all purchases (to make sure you don't buy your monthly quota at more than one store).

As a chronic allergy sufferer who has tried many other medications without success and relies on Sudafed to help me breathe at night, I am truly bothered that thousands upon thousands of law-abiding citizens are going to be tracked, regulated, inconvenienced, and find it harder to obtain the medicines they need, whether because they're locked in a cabinet (ever tried to find someone to open the film cabinet at Vons when you need it?), because stores have stopped carrying these products, or for related reasons.