| WASHINGTON, D.C. – Momentum for a bill addressing methamphetamine use introduced by U.S. Congressmen Marion Berry (D-AR, 1st) is gaining momentum in the states they would benefit most.
Today, Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe added his support to a list including the Arkansas State Police Department, Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy, the Arkansas Department of Health’s Pharmacy Services & Drug Control Division and State Senator Percy Malone.
Last month, Berry worked with Jo Ann Emerson, a Republican from Missouri, to introduce (HR 1378) the “Ephedrine Alkaloids Regulation Act of 2005,” a bill to control the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the precursor chemicals used to make methamphetamine.
“We need to give our law enforcement officials every tool available to limit the sale and production of methamphetamines,” Berry said. “Federal legislation is necessary to move the sale of meth ingredients behind the counter and halt the drug’s harmful effect on Rural America.”
Currently, many medications containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine (such as Sudafed) can be purchased over-the counter and then used to make meth. Though many states with significant meth problems have worked to restrict access to these products, inconsistencies between state laws make regulation difficult. Creating uniformity at the federal level will go further in the effort to stop meth before it spreads across this country.
“While individual state laws, like the one in Arkansas, help address the meth epidemic at the local level, this drug problem is spreading at a rate that requires a national solution,” Added Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe. “Congressman Berry’s bill is a first step toward a stronger national policy to ensure that meth manufacturers have no safe harbor in the United States.”
The Emerson/Berry bill would make ephedrine products, pseudoephedrine (PSE), and phenylpropanolamine, (alone or in combination with other substances) Schedule V Controlled Substances. These Schedule V Controlled Substances could only be sold to the public by a pharmacist or pharmacy technician in a licensed pharmacy in restricted quantities. This law would also require wholesale distributors that ship these products to follow stricter guidelines for the storage and record keeping of these products. |
