Targeting Meth, Lawmakers Eye New Rules for Cold Remedy Purchases
By Amy Lambiaso for the State House News Service
       Saying methamphetamine is their ultimate target, Lawmakers on Monday quickly advanced legislation moving the sale of cold remedies behind the counter in drug stores and prohibiting consumers from buying the medicine in bulk. The move follows similar action in the western part of the country, where Sudafed and other generic cold medicines with pseudoephedrine as the main ingredient are being used to produce the highly addictive and illegal drug methamphetamine.
       Methamphetamine, also known as meth, speed, ice, crystal, and glass, produces a short-term euphoric reaction after it is snorted, smoked, or injected through a needle, according to the National Institutes of Health. Users can become addicted quickly, and long-term usage can cause irreversible brain damage, strokes, or death.
       According to the state Department of Public Health, 3.5 percent of 8th
graders in the US have used methamphetamine, 5.7 percent of 9th graders in Massachusetts have used it, and use is on the rise among all-night partiers. State officials say meth users are prone to aggressive, violent or psychotic behavior.
       The drug is easily produced when pseudoephedrine is combined with battery acid, fertilizer and other readily available ingredients, said Sen.
Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester), lead sponsor of the bill, which was
endorsed by the Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse after a hearing today. Citing a survey of 500 sheriffs nationwide, Chandler said
meth has become the nation’s leading drug problem.
       The legislation would put cold medicine products containing psuedoephedrine behind counters staffed by licensed pharmacists or other store employees over the age of 18. Buyers would need to produce photo identification and sign a log intended to track their purchases. Bulk purchases would not be allowed.
       At the hearing, meth use was described as a problem that is prevalent in the western United States.
       “It is coming here,” said Sen. Steven Tolman (D-Brighton), co-chairman of the committee. Tolman was so moved by the testimony offered in favor of the legislation that he immediately moved to have the committee vote on the issue following its first public hearing.
“It’s about time we start acting proactively on all these products,” said
Rep. Brian Wallace (D-Boston). Chandler said she has been working with members of the pharmaceutica industry and drug stores during the last several months to incorporate some of their concerns into a re-drafted bill, which the committee endorsed. The industry is now on board with her proposal, she said.
       Since filing the initial bill, she said, many stores have been moving the
products behind the counters voluntarily, and Sudafed has changed its
formula to include other ingredients besides pseudoephedrine.
       “It’s not good enough to do it voluntarily,” Chandler said. “We need to be proactive in this.”
       In addition to moving store brand pseudoephedrine, or single source
products behind the counter, the legislation would limit the sale of
products containing pseudoephedrine – such as Advil or Tylenol Cold and
Sinus – to 9 grams per person, or roughly two packages of 30 tablets each.
       Consumers purchasing single source products would have to produce photo identification at the time of sale and sign a written or electronic logbook intended to track individual purchases.
       Dr. Suman Wason, medical director of Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, said logging the purchases through a computer system, as is done in Oklahoma, would prevent people from thwarting the law by buying one or two packages at several stores. He estimates that 80 percent of the population that uses pseudoephedrine to make methamphetamine would be deterred from doing so under this law.
       “This is a relatively cheap high,” Wason said.
Chandler said lawmakers in neighboring states such as Rhode Island, Maine, New York, and Connecticut have filed similar legislation, while a
comparable law in Georgia took effect July 1.
       Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said the retailing industry was initially concerned about the wave of
legislation around the country, but has since been working to ensure
different state laws are consistent. He said, “most stores are ready and
willing to accept” a law change that treats the sale of pseudoephedrine
products like the sale of tobacco. Chandler also noted that there is national legislation circulating through Congress, but urged the Legislature not to wait for the federal government to act – a point to which many lawmakers agreed.
       “Drugs and drug dealers are doing more damage to our country than all of the terrorists in the world,” said Rep. Martin Walsh (D-Dorchester),
further condemning the pharmaceutical industry for not educating the public about the dangers associated with certain drug interactions.