Urge Officials To Make PSE Prescription
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
The idea is to educate people about the problem of methamphetamine abuse in our community.
There will be presentations on how addictive and dangerous it is, how it ruins lives and how detrimental it is to society.
It certainly is important for the community to be aware of just how bad this stuff is. But even more important, in my view, is for the community to be aware of how simple it would be to eradicate the problem virtually overnight.
This absolutely is not rocket science, people.
You can't cook meth without pseudoephedrine, more commonly known as PSE. No PSE, no meth.
PSE is the active ingredient in runny nose medicine like Sudafed®.
Right now, you can roll up on your neighborhood Walmart, CVS or Walgreens and buy the stuff over the counter.
The solution couldn't be more obvious. Make the stuff a schedule drug. Make it prescription only.
OK, let's talk about "Mr. Smiley."
It also goes by K2, Mr. Dutchy, Spice and other names. It's sold legally in convenience stores as incense. But people are using it to get high.
Dr. James Mowry, director of the Indiana Poison Center, said his agency has seen 95 cases of people having adverse reactions to Mr. Smiley since March.
Most of the calls to the poison center came from emergency rooms or doctors offices after patients showed up suffering ill affects, Mowry said.
Health officials say the stuff can cause chemical burns to your lungs and throat and make your heart race.
Lawmakers are on the case. Time to ban the evil Mr. Smiley.
Ah, but state lab tests show there's technically nothing illegal in the substance.
No worries, WSBT-TV reports that lawmakers and law enforcers gathered this summer. They may have found a way around that. A law passed in 2002 makes it illegal to have or sell a look-alike drug or any substance that produces similar effects in the brain.
But even then, the similarities have to be proven scientifically. You'd need lots of science and experts and the like. There'd be loopholes for manufacturers, too.
Aw, heck with all that science. Why not just make Mr. Smiley or anything like it illegal?
And that's precisely what Indiana lawmakers say they will do next year when the legislature gets back in session.
State Sen. Ron Alting (R-Lafayette) says: "... This is a growing problem statewide and Indiana needs to take statewide action. That's what I plan to initiate when legislative session reconvenes in January."
Let's see, "growing problem statewide." "Statewide action" is needed. Hmm.
State Rep. John Barnes, (D-Indianapolis) says he will introduce a three-part law in January:
Part I - Compile a list of the chemical combinations used to make the synthetic drug and ban them.
Part II - Tighten the analog substance law to prevent loopholes.
Part III - Make an appeal to retailers to stop selling the stuff.
Bam! That's what I'm talkin' about. Slam dunk. Done deal. Less than one year into a problem and we've got a law dealing with it.
Now, compare and contrast this with meth.
Meth is a far more serious problem - and by far more I mean like 1,000 times more. The cost to our state alone - when you factor in the cost of enforcement, cleanup, adjudication, incarceration, etc. - is in the tens of millions of dollars.
Innocent children are being exposed and harmed by their meth-cooking parents. Lives are being ruined and addicts are dying from overdoses. Houses are exploding and burning.
And last time I checked, nobody was running out and knocking off a liquor store to get money to buy Mr. Smiley.
The meth thing has been dragging on and growing worse for a decade. We started locking up anhydrous ammonia tanks, remember?
Meth cookers figured out how to make anhydrous ammonia. We tried keeping it behind the counter. We tried making people show IDs. Now they're talking about data bases of PSE purchases, but the software doesn't work right.
So here's a question.
If we can ban Mr. Smiley in a year, why can't we quit screwing around and make PSE prescription only?
Why can't we end this meth scourge once and for all?
I'll tell you why.
There is no Mr. Smiley lobby at the Statehouse.
But there's a huge pharmaceutical lobby, now isn't there?
I've heard some inane excuses for keeping PSE over the counter. I heard one lawmaker say he was concerned about state Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements going up because PSE prescriptions would have to be covered.
I figured that was bogus because most people with runny noses would simply forego the prescription and buy a different over-the-counter medication.
But a certain number of people would get prescriptions. So let's talk about Oregon. They made PSE prescription only. Know how many prescriptions they paid for the first year?
$7,000.
Statewide.
Weigh that against the cost of meth to Kosciusko County alone.
Before Oregon moved to regulate PSE they busted more than 470 meth labs a year. (Indiana currently busts three times that many.) Oregon made PSE a prescription-only drug in 2006. In 2007, Oregon busted 18 meth labs. This year, they'll be in the low single digits and that's only because people cross state lines to buy PSE in unregulated states.
Then I hear about the cost and inconvenience of having to make a doctor's appointment to get a prescription for PSE.
Really? Two thoughts.
1. If your doctor refuses to call in a prescription and demands an office visit to prescribe something for a runny nose, get a new doctor.
2. Take Claritan®.
And now to the only argument that makes any sense at all and is probably the sole reason PSE wasn't made prescription-only a long time ago.
It would - undoubtedly - cut into drug company and pharmacy profits because they sell tons of the stuff. Of course, cops estimate that fully half of the PSE sold in Indiana winds up in a meth lab somewhere. But hey, a sale's a sale, right?[[In-content Ad]]We need a law, people.
Get ahold of these guys. Tell them to ignore the lobbyists and do the right thing for a change.
Tell them this: "To get rid of meth in Indiana, the legislature needs to make PSE prescription only."
STATE SENATORS
Marlin Stutzman (R) District 13, 0250 W. 600N Howe, Ind. 46746 Ind. 46761. [email protected] Call 260-562-3303.
Ryan Mishler (R) District 9, P.O. Box 202, Bremen, Ind. 46506. [email protected] Call 574-546-2861.
Gary Dillon (R) District 17, 331 N. Chauncey St., Columbia City, 46725. [email protected] Call 260-248-4100.
Randy Head (R) Logansport, Ind. [email protected]
STATE REPRESENTATIVES
David Wolkins (R) District 18, 501 Pierceton Road, Winona Lake, 46590. [email protected] Call 574-269-2639.
William C. Friend (R) District 23, 3127 W. 1500N, Macy IN 46951. [email protected] Call 574-382-3885.
The idea is to educate people about the problem of methamphetamine abuse in our community.
There will be presentations on how addictive and dangerous it is, how it ruins lives and how detrimental it is to society.
It certainly is important for the community to be aware of just how bad this stuff is. But even more important, in my view, is for the community to be aware of how simple it would be to eradicate the problem virtually overnight.
This absolutely is not rocket science, people.
You can't cook meth without pseudoephedrine, more commonly known as PSE. No PSE, no meth.
PSE is the active ingredient in runny nose medicine like Sudafed®.
Right now, you can roll up on your neighborhood Walmart, CVS or Walgreens and buy the stuff over the counter.
The solution couldn't be more obvious. Make the stuff a schedule drug. Make it prescription only.
OK, let's talk about "Mr. Smiley."
It also goes by K2, Mr. Dutchy, Spice and other names. It's sold legally in convenience stores as incense. But people are using it to get high.
Dr. James Mowry, director of the Indiana Poison Center, said his agency has seen 95 cases of people having adverse reactions to Mr. Smiley since March.
Most of the calls to the poison center came from emergency rooms or doctors offices after patients showed up suffering ill affects, Mowry said.
Health officials say the stuff can cause chemical burns to your lungs and throat and make your heart race.
Lawmakers are on the case. Time to ban the evil Mr. Smiley.
Ah, but state lab tests show there's technically nothing illegal in the substance.
No worries, WSBT-TV reports that lawmakers and law enforcers gathered this summer. They may have found a way around that. A law passed in 2002 makes it illegal to have or sell a look-alike drug or any substance that produces similar effects in the brain.
But even then, the similarities have to be proven scientifically. You'd need lots of science and experts and the like. There'd be loopholes for manufacturers, too.
Aw, heck with all that science. Why not just make Mr. Smiley or anything like it illegal?
And that's precisely what Indiana lawmakers say they will do next year when the legislature gets back in session.
State Sen. Ron Alting (R-Lafayette) says: "... This is a growing problem statewide and Indiana needs to take statewide action. That's what I plan to initiate when legislative session reconvenes in January."
Let's see, "growing problem statewide." "Statewide action" is needed. Hmm.
State Rep. John Barnes, (D-Indianapolis) says he will introduce a three-part law in January:
Part I - Compile a list of the chemical combinations used to make the synthetic drug and ban them.
Part II - Tighten the analog substance law to prevent loopholes.
Part III - Make an appeal to retailers to stop selling the stuff.
Bam! That's what I'm talkin' about. Slam dunk. Done deal. Less than one year into a problem and we've got a law dealing with it.
Now, compare and contrast this with meth.
Meth is a far more serious problem - and by far more I mean like 1,000 times more. The cost to our state alone - when you factor in the cost of enforcement, cleanup, adjudication, incarceration, etc. - is in the tens of millions of dollars.
Innocent children are being exposed and harmed by their meth-cooking parents. Lives are being ruined and addicts are dying from overdoses. Houses are exploding and burning.
And last time I checked, nobody was running out and knocking off a liquor store to get money to buy Mr. Smiley.
The meth thing has been dragging on and growing worse for a decade. We started locking up anhydrous ammonia tanks, remember?
Meth cookers figured out how to make anhydrous ammonia. We tried keeping it behind the counter. We tried making people show IDs. Now they're talking about data bases of PSE purchases, but the software doesn't work right.
So here's a question.
If we can ban Mr. Smiley in a year, why can't we quit screwing around and make PSE prescription only?
Why can't we end this meth scourge once and for all?
I'll tell you why.
There is no Mr. Smiley lobby at the Statehouse.
But there's a huge pharmaceutical lobby, now isn't there?
I've heard some inane excuses for keeping PSE over the counter. I heard one lawmaker say he was concerned about state Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements going up because PSE prescriptions would have to be covered.
I figured that was bogus because most people with runny noses would simply forego the prescription and buy a different over-the-counter medication.
But a certain number of people would get prescriptions. So let's talk about Oregon. They made PSE prescription only. Know how many prescriptions they paid for the first year?
$7,000.
Statewide.
Weigh that against the cost of meth to Kosciusko County alone.
Before Oregon moved to regulate PSE they busted more than 470 meth labs a year. (Indiana currently busts three times that many.) Oregon made PSE a prescription-only drug in 2006. In 2007, Oregon busted 18 meth labs. This year, they'll be in the low single digits and that's only because people cross state lines to buy PSE in unregulated states.
Then I hear about the cost and inconvenience of having to make a doctor's appointment to get a prescription for PSE.
Really? Two thoughts.
1. If your doctor refuses to call in a prescription and demands an office visit to prescribe something for a runny nose, get a new doctor.
2. Take Claritan®.
And now to the only argument that makes any sense at all and is probably the sole reason PSE wasn't made prescription-only a long time ago.
It would - undoubtedly - cut into drug company and pharmacy profits because they sell tons of the stuff. Of course, cops estimate that fully half of the PSE sold in Indiana winds up in a meth lab somewhere. But hey, a sale's a sale, right?[[In-content Ad]]We need a law, people.
Get ahold of these guys. Tell them to ignore the lobbyists and do the right thing for a change.
Tell them this: "To get rid of meth in Indiana, the legislature needs to make PSE prescription only."
STATE SENATORS
Marlin Stutzman (R) District 13, 0250 W. 600N Howe, Ind. 46746 Ind. 46761. [email protected] Call 260-562-3303.
Ryan Mishler (R) District 9, P.O. Box 202, Bremen, Ind. 46506. [email protected] Call 574-546-2861.
Gary Dillon (R) District 17, 331 N. Chauncey St., Columbia City, 46725. [email protected] Call 260-248-4100.
Randy Head (R) Logansport, Ind. [email protected]
STATE REPRESENTATIVES
David Wolkins (R) District 18, 501 Pierceton Road, Winona Lake, 46590. [email protected] Call 574-269-2639.
William C. Friend (R) District 23, 3127 W. 1500N, Macy IN 46951. [email protected] Call 574-382-3885.
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