Drug makers, other critics seek to block anti-meth provision.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

SALEM - Some lawmakers and pharmaceutical lobbyists are trying to put the brakes on one provision in an anti-meth bill, saying the proposed restriction would put the most popular cold remedies out of reach for thousands of Oregonians.

Political momentum has been building around a pair of bills that would implement a number of measures against Oregon's methamphetamine epidemic. But one provision in House Bill 2485 is prompting some to question whether the war on meth is overzealously targeting law-abiding Oregonians who need relief from colds.

The bill would require a doctor's prescription before consumers can obtain medicine containing the decongestant pseudoephedrine.

The goal is to put Oregon in the vanguard of the war on meth with the toughest restrictions in the nation on pseudoephedrine, a precursor used to produce the drug. By making the compound a prescription-only item, advocates figure it would be much harder for meth cooks to assemble the raw materials they need to produce the drug.

Policy-makers and interest groups remain united in their conviction that the meth crisis needs to be solved. But a growing number are questioning whether the harm to innocent consumers from a prescription-only law would outweigh gains in the war on meth.

"I'm all for protecting children and protecting good people from being hurt by bad people, but this is extreme," said Sen. Vicki Walker, a Eugene Democrat who is leading the Legislature's push to replace such provisions with less stringent requirements.

"You pass this bill in its current form and Oregonians are going to be furious."

Walker and other critics question whether the prescrip- tion-only restrictions on products such as Dimetapp, Theraflu and Sudafed and their generic equivalents will be any more effective in curbing meth production than the current rules, which could be toughened without going to the prescription-only approach on all pseudoephedrine products.

The Oregon Board of Pharmacists requires that pseudoephedrine-based hard tablets be placed behind pharmacists' counters, where a log is kept of who buys the drugs. Government-issued identification must be presented, and limits are imposed on how much of the medication can be purchased.

Before the pharmacy board's restrictions were implemented, drugs with pseudoephedrine were on regular store shelves, next to aspirin, ibuprofen and the like.

Before the restrictions, law-enforcement agencies estimated that an average of 40 meth labs operated in any given month in Oregon; that dropped to a 22-lab average in the seven months after the rule's adoption.

The decline convinced law officials that the restrictions are working, said, Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the Oregon Narcotics Enforcement Associ- ation.

"But we need to be aiming for more. We can't just say now we're satisfied,' said Bovett, whose association represents local, state and federal law enforcement officers and prosecutors.

"Our drug-endangered children deserve better. We need to shut down every one of these toxic meth labs."

Pseudoephedrine, although now more difficult to acquire in bulk, remains accessible via two routes, known as "inter- state smurfing" and "group smurfing."

The street terms refer to the blue cartoon characters whose lives revolve around getting and eating smurfberries, their sole food source.

Interstate smurfing - sending out a handful of meth users into states bordering Oregon to buy large quantities of meth ingredients - can be restricted only by federal regulations, which are being considered.

But Bovett and others in law enforcement say Oregon may be able to cut by an additional 25 percent the number of meth labs in operation by shutting down the group-smurfing pipeline, and that means making it harder to buy pseudoephedrine in Oregon.

This is where the latest legislative proposal comes into play. To obtain pseudoephedrine products - either hard tablets or other forms such as gel caps - a doctor's prescription would be needed. The doctor could call it in to a pharmacy without seeing the patient, and could allow for up to five refills in a six-month period.

Craig Prins, executive director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Council, said a big advantage of this plan is that it eliminates weaknesses in the behind-the-counter rules.

Current rules still allow an individual to visit numerous stores, where he or she can buy several packages of pseudo- ephedrine-based products. With a fake or stolen ID - a common by-product of the meth epidemic - the same person could make multiple purchases at the same store.

And with enough "smurfs" going out to buy these products, a drugstore run can easily round up the two dozen boxes needed to make 12 grams or more of meth - which equates to about 70 hits for users.

All police can do is try to use the logs kept by pharmacists to identify the buyers after the meth has already been made and consumed.

The more restrictive prescription-only approach changes that, Prins said.

"Instead of playing chase, we're playing chess," the former Multnomah County drug-unit prosecutor said.

The prescription-only bill has cleared one House committee, is before another and may reach the House floor next week.

Critics, including manufacturers and retailers of cold medicines, say the clampdown is being made without considering the downside for consumers.

"There has to be a balance between legitimate access to the product and keeping it out of the hands of the folks who would not use it for legitimate purposes," said Shawn Miller, who lobbies on behalf of drugstore chains and grocery stores.

These retailers agree that the best solution is to require a prescription for hard-tablet pseudoephedrine - by far the most commonly used precursor in Oregon meth labs - but to impose the less restrictive, behind-the-counter rules to all other products with this ingredient, Miller said.

That would include liquid and soft-gel products and combination medications, such as those with pseudoephedrine, a decongestant, and an antihistamine for allergy sufferers.

One of the biggest manufacturers of pseudoephedrine remedies, Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, last month began lobbying in Salem against the prescription-only restriction. It hired as its representative in Salem veteran contract lobbyist Jim Anderson, who has been trying to convince legislators that the bill would go too far.

Anderson contends that consumers would be unable to get the medication they have come to rely on, and that the proposed restriction is based on a law enforcement approach that has not been proven to cut meth production.

Lawmakers, "in their zeal to get to the solution to the meth problem ... have gone totally too far," he said.

Walker, the Eugene lawmaker, so far has been the most outspoken critic of the prescrip- tion-only approach.

Walker said she was skeptical that the prescription-only approach would drastically reduce the availability of meth in Oregon, because as much as 80 percent of the drug or its precursors are brought into the state by Mexican drug cartels.

She has been working to get citizens to weigh in on the issue. Last month, she sent out an e-mail questionnaire asking people to respond.

In it, Walker described the prescription-only approach as "radical" and a "big leap" that would turn into a criminal anyone who brought back a pseudoephedrine product from another state where it was purchased.

She also questioned how the hundreds of thousands of cold sufferers without insurance would access such medication, given that most don't have a doctor who could prescribe pseudoephedrine.

In response, Walker has heard back from about 230 people, nearly all of whom said they share her views. One e-mailer wrote that the restriction was "a disaster for the citizens of our state."

Another said that, lacking health insurance, she wouldn't be able to afford cold and allergy medications for her family. A third said the state should give the behind-the-counter approach more time to work.

Rep. Wayne Krieger, a Gold Beach Republican who has championed the anti-meth legislation, said that while lobbyists may be able to stir up the emotions of lawmakers and citizens with fears that they won't be able to get their favorite cold remedies, he said he was adamant that the tougher standards were necessary, and ultimately would be adopted by the Legislature.

"If people want to vote against this, I'll just send them a picture of a meth baby," he said, "to show them what's going to happen six months later because they didn't have the political courage to do the right thing."

METH BILLS

In addition to cracking down on sales of cold medicine, pending anti-methamphetamine legislation in Salem would:

Set tougher criminal penalties for people who let children, or elderly or disabled people into a home used as a meth lab

Create new crime categories aimed at the meth trade, including the crimes of dumping meth waste, operating a meth lab, and distributing meth equipment and chemicals

Crack down on owners of contaminated meth labs by setting a 180-day time limit for an owner to decontaminate a home that had been declared unfit for use because it had been the site of a meth lab

Create legal immunity for people who report what they believe to be activities involving meth or meth-making precursors

Authorize the state welfare agency to suspend an individual's food stamp benefits when there is evidence that that person traded those benefits for drugs, and has a prior drug conviction