Make pseudoephedrine available only by prescription and see what effect it has on methamphetamine making, editorial argues

The 2012 General Assembly should make the cold medicine pseudoephedrine available only by prescription  to see if that curbs methamphetamine production, an editorial in the Lexington Herald-Leader argues.

The editorial notes the plan of Democratic Rep. Linda Belcher, D-Shepherdsville, to file another bill to require a prescription for pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in meth, but with some changes. "Medicines in the form of gel caps would be excluded from the prescription requirement because it's hard to extract the precursors from gel caps," the editorial says. "Also, the requirement would sunset in three years to give everyone a chance to assess its effects and give Kentuckians a chance to adjust to the 130 cold and allergy medicines that cannot be put to use in meth labs."

Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, said recently that he wants to tackle the problem in another way,  blocking meth-related offenders from being able to buy pseudoephedrine unless they have a prescription. "Unfortunately, there's no reason to think that Yonts' bill would make a dent in methamphetamine production," the editorial reads. "Meth cookers could find plenty of 'smurfers' who have no criminal records to make the buys." (Read more)