METH LAB BILL NEARS FINAL PASSAGE

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METH LAB BILL NEARS FINAL PASSAGE


Measure Also Goes After Internet Drugs


FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A bill aimed at curbing Kentucky's growing methamphetamine problem and regulating prescription drugs sold over the Internet moved closer to becoming law yesterday.


Senate Bill 63 passed the House 97-0 and is expected to pass the Senate and receive Gov. Ernie Fletcher's signature.


Originally two bills, the combination represents Kentucky's broadest drug-control bill in recent years, supporters said.


"This may be, in my opinion, the most important bill we pass this session,"


said House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown.


The bill will require pharmacies to keep cold and allergy medication with pseudoephedrine behind the counter or in a locked cabinet. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient for making meth.


Customers will be limited to buying medications containing 9 grams of pseudoephedrine per month, or about 300 Sudafed tablets, and will be required to show an ID and sign a log.


The bill also will strengthen a law used to prosecute meth manufacturers, create a law making it illegal to make meth in the presence of children and hold meth makers liable for the cost of cleaning up labs.


The measure also will help the state regulate Internet pharmacies that sell drugs without valid prescriptions.


Felecia Peacock of Bowling Green, a former meth user who works at a halfway house for recovering addicts, said she thinks the legislation will help curb meth abuse.


But to combat the problem effectively, she said, the state must also expand resources for treatment.


"This war on drugs is definitely something that we're losing," Peacock said.


The Courier-Journal reported in December that meth has spread rapidly through Kentucky, clogging jails and prisons, ravaging families and increasing demand for drug treatment. It found that the state had failed to keep pace with other states by more closely regulating the sale of cold and allergy medications.


"This is a great first step for the major fight we're in against meth and


other drugs," Lt. Gov. Steve Pence said of yesterday's vote, which he watched from the House floor.


As Justice secretary, Pence helped draft the bill, which goes back to the Senate for consideration of a House committee's amendment merging the Internet drug sale provisions with the meth crackdown. Amendments withdrawn


Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, the bill's sponsor, said he foresees no problem with the combined bill passing the Senate, and Pence said he will continue to work for its final passage.


He said Gov. Ernie Fletcher is ready to sign the bill, which will take effect 90 days after the session ends.


The bill had been controversial with retailers and a few lawmakers because it would impose new restrictions on tablets of over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines such as Sudafed and Claritin D.


The House delayed voting on the bill after Rep. Frank Rasche, D-Paducah, filed two amendments that Stivers had said would gut the bill by loosening those restrictions.


But Rasche withdrew the amendments yesterday, saying it was not his intent to weaken the measure.


"Meth is an atrocious scourge on society," Rasche said.


He had proposed letting any retailer sell over-the-counter cold medication and changing the bill to increase the number of tablets people could buy per month.


"I'm just trying to think about the consumer," he said.


Joel Thornbury, a Pikeville pharmacist and president of the Kentucky Pharmacists Association, said he believes the restrictions will help the meth problem, even though it means more work for pharmacists.


"Pharmacists, we are busy," he said. "But it is to help law enforcement, and I support that."


State Rep. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, echoed Peacock's comments when she spoke on behalf of the bill, calling on the state to offer more drug treatment.


"It's a crucial part of solving the entire problem," Webb said.


Pence said the administration is committed to expanding treatment. Internet drug buying


Attorney General Greg Stumbo pushed the Internet drug portion of the bill, which would crack down on so-called "rogue pharmacies" that ship drugs to customers in Kentucky without valid prescriptions.


Stumbo said such drug orders have been an especially acute problem in his home region of Eastern Kentucky.


Thornbury said he supports efforts to restrict Internet access to such drugs as narcotic painkillers and tranquilizers. He said such access allows people to bypass doctors and pharmacists and can lead to abuse and diversion of addictive drugs.


The bill requires out-of-state pharmacies that do business in Kentucky to be certified through a national board. It also authorizes the state Board of Pharmacy to regulate them in Kentucky and requires them to post a valid return address and proof of certification. The state could seize any shipments without those labels.


It also requires people who order such drugs to have a valid prescription and have had a recent, face-to-face consultation with a physician.