AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill that would require sales of cold and allergy medications to be tracked electronically because the drugs are often used to make methamphetamine was passed unanimously this week by the Legislature’s health committee.
“Methamphetamine abuse is a major problem in Maine and has ruined a lot of lives,” said State Rep. Alexander Willette, R-Mapleton, the bill’s sponsor. “Anything we can do to curb the supply of ingredients is a positive step. A major goal of this bill is to prevent someone from buying a supply of precursor material at one drug store and then buying more at other locations.”
The legislation, which has bipartisan support, now goes to the House and Senate for consideration.
“We are giving law enforcement one more tool to crack down on illegal drug use and production,” said Rep. Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, the lead House Democrat on the Health and Human Service Committee. “We must do everything we can to combat these designer drugs that threaten our communities.”
Under Willette’s bill, sale of legal products that contain ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine — typically found in over-the-counter cold and nasal decongestant medicines — would be tracked.
Even though these products do not require a prescription, they already are stored behind pharmacy counters under the federal Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005.
Still, that hasn’t entirely solved the problem.
Some retailers already maintain written logs of this data, but the new law, if enacted, would mandate that the information be maintained electronically. The bill has support of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, which would oversee the electronic tracking system.
“We supported this bill due to concern about methamphetamine,” MDEA Director Roy McKinney said in a statement. “Anything that reduces the diversion of pseudoephedrine to illegal uses is a positive. Drugs containing these ingredients are behind the counter now, but the sales are recorded manually. There is nothing to stop someone from buying the maximum amount at one store and doing the same thing at multiple stores. That’s why the electronic logging is so important.”
The new system must be in compliance with the National Information Exchange Model and the Criminal Justice Information Exchange to communicate across state lines. By Aug. 1, 2012, the MDEA must notify retailers about which system has been chosen, and those retailers would go “live” by Jan. 1, 2013.
According to the bill, the electronic logging system “must be free of charge to the state, its taxpayers, retailers and law enforcement.” Costs would be borne by companies that produce medicines containing the methamphetamine ingredients.
Willette’s bill also would bring Maine laws in line with a federal law that limits sale of those items to a single customer to 3.6 grams per day or 9 grams per 30 days. It also would require a purchaser to present a government-issued photo identification and require the retailer to record the name and address of the customer as well as the name and quantity of the item purchased.
“For law-abiding citizens who want to buy these medications, this changes nothing,” Willette said.
Time to run out and stock up on my Advil cold and sinus before the man comes after me.
Why would anyone want to use Meth? Paint Thinner, Gasoline, Ether, Lye, all show up in Meth. Look at the before and after pictures of meth users.
I agree. Horrible, horrible drug. Whatever happened to good old weed?
It destroys them , but most drug abusers have a whicked case of DENIAL ! Who me ? i dont have a drug prob, prob, prob, problem !
Free of charge to the state and retailer? So that means the cost gets passed along to the consumer, therefor punishing the vast majority of users who are not abusers. Gotta love a democracy
It will not solve the problem, just drive up the cost to the law abiding people but of course what else is new
Sounds to me like the federal law already on the books takes care of this issue. Some retailers even take extra steps. I felt like a GD drug addict when I got sick last winter and needed over the counter sinus medicine! I had to be “logged” into a book just to get one packet of advil severe cold and sinus. How many packs of these OTC meds does it take to make meth? Too bad the story didn’t say but that would require some research by the reporter. Its easier to just regurgitate the press statement of eager politicians.
That’s why I just cough and sneeze everywhere I go. I don’t want to get put on a list for buying cold medicine. Sorry for the germs.
Here we go again, Government over-regulation. I went to K-Mart in Madawaska in January and purchased Benadryl. The cashier asked to see ID but I’m not sure if he put it into his computer…I guess that’s the next step. It’s a matter of time before you go to the grocery store and they put your ID in the computer along with how many bottles of wine you purchased. In VA they ID everyone for alcohol purchases in a grocery store, even if it’s a 90 year old person.
Nanny, Nanny,Nanny… O, please Nanny me….
Like that is going to stop them they will just have someone else pick up the meds not like most meth users even have ID lol Just another way to waste money . Ok make the drug companies pay for it well the cost will get passed down to us.
This is a Republican proposal. It is an abuse of government power. It is relatively harmless compared to the vaginal sonograms the Republicans in Virginia are forcing women who want an abortion to undergo. Still, anyone who believes Republicans want a smaller government only have to look at Republican politicians’ actions to see that their actions belie their words.
I hate to inform you but electronic tracking hasn’t work in any state where they have the Nplex electronic tracking system set up. Look at Kentucky which was the first state to use Nplex back in 2008. They had a meth lab count of 342 and Jan 2008 turn the Nplex tracking system on. Last years meth lab count using Nplex was 1,156 so meth labs have tripled since using the drug lobbies tracking system.
The drug lobby makes over a billion dollars a year just off the meth cook market alone and do you really think they will provide something that will hurt their sales. This is why Kentucky is now trying to pass prescription pseudoephedrine.
http://www.StopMethLabs.com
Why track it wasting more money? When it gets to court the judges just slap them on the wrist anyway. Let em have at it . With any luck at all, they will blow themselves up.
Why don’t they do electronic tracking on cars, they get used in drug trafficking, drunk driving, bank robberies, hit-and-runs, speeding, smuggling, ……… etc.
How about a bill to shut down all the methadone clinics.
I thought the Republicans were all for getting the Government out of people’s lives. Except for our bedrooms, doctor’s offices, and medicine cabinets, I guess . . .
They need to start electronic tracking of gasoline sales — think of all the people that gasoline use kills every year.
google smurfing. Electronic logs do nothing. You can make decent money buying sutafed and selling it to speed freaks.
Here we go again, inconvience the sick and afflicted by making them show an id when they by flue and cold medicine ! Hey i have an idea, why dont the state do unannounced checks on past offenders because they are the ones who train the newbies and reoffend and stop driving it up the innocents arse !
If the addicts can’t get cold medicine from the store where will they get it? They will find a way whether this law is passed or not. Every house in this state probably has cold medicine in their cabinets, especially those with kids. This law will do nothing but cause more break-ins and increase the cost of medicine, not to mention increasing law enforcement costs. When will this over-regulation stop?