Bill takes cold pills off shelves

BOISE – Over the objections of an array of pharmacists and retailers, a House committee passed a bill Thursday to require all cold medicines containing any amount of pseudoephedrine to be kept behind the counter and sold only by a licensed pharmacist.

Pseudoephedrine, also known by the brand names Sinutab, Sudafed, Pediacre and others, often is used by methamphetamine manufacturers as a key ingredient in cooking up the illegal drug, which is why four state representatives put together legislation to restrict it. But pharmacists and retailers said the bill went too far.

“We are here to defend safe use of medicine – that’s what I do for a living,” pharmacist Vic Allen told the House Judiciary Committee. He said pharmacists support restricting availability of the drug, but they see problems with the way the bill would work.

“The fix has to come,” he told the lawmakers. “All we ask is that you put us in the loop.”

After a hearing that went more than two hours, Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, proposed holding off for two weeks to allow pharmacists and others to meet with the sponsors and work out their concerns. Clark said he wanted to do “whatever it takes to get these people together to figure it out, not to butt heads, to arrive at a solution everyone can live with.” But that proposal died on a 7-9 vote.

The committee then voted 10-6 to pass the bill as-is, sending it to the full House for a vote.

Rep. Bob Ring, R-Caldwell, a physician, said, “I believe the testimony speaks for itself. On the one hand we have a concern by some retailers and some pharmacists that this will cost them a small amount of money, some extra paperwork. … On the other hand we have a problem that’s causing an enormous cost in human misery and dollar expense.”

Stanley Gibson, a Nampa, Idaho, pharmacist and legislative chair for the Idaho State Pharmacy Association, said he couldn’t agree more with the intent of the bill – he just had problems with how it was set up.

He said he personally has a vested interest – a son serving time in prison, and a 36-year-old daughter who’s lost everything she had, because of methamphetamine.

“I want methamphetamine off the streets as much or more than anyone else in this room,” he said.

Charlie Jones, co-owner of Stinker Stations convenience stores, said, “The thing that troubles me about this bill is you give an advantage to an Albertsons, a Fred Meyer, a Wal-Mart. They don’t need any more advantages to compete against me.”

But backers of the bill noted that it will still allow liquid and gel-cap forms of pseudoephedrine to be sold over the counter, because those forms are not used to make methamphetamine.

Plus, drug manufacturers are about to come out with new alternatives to pseudoephedrine that are just as effective, but not useable to make meth.

The bill bans the purchase of more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine by any person in a month. People would have to show photo ID and sign a log to buy the drug from a pharmacist.

Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, who voted against the bill, said he thought he’d bought more than that when he stocked up to go on an international trip. “We haven’t focused on the inconvenience to the public in general,” he said. “This would affect every citizen in the state of Idaho.”

Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, who also opposed the bill, said he consulted with two relatives who are pharmacists. “They both agreed this is too wide, too broad,” he said.

Two of the four sponsors of the bill, Ring and Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, are doctors. Another, Rep. Richard Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, is a retired state trooper, and Rep. Mike Mitchell, D-Lewiston, is a business consultant.

“We can’t stop meth coming into Idaho,” Mitchell told the committee. “What we’re trying to stop here is production of meth in Idaho.”

Ring said, “Yes, this will be a nuisance to the pharmacists – it will increase their workload a little bit.”

Oregon and Oklahoma already have enacted similar laws.