Legislator wants to make key meth ingredient limited to prescriptions

MONTGOMERY - A Decatur legislator said he wants Alabama to follow Oregon's lead in solving its crystal meth problem by making a key ingredient available only by subscription.

Republican Rep. Micky Hammon said he plans to prefile the bill now being drafted before the 2010 legislative session begins. The bill would make pseudoephedrine a prescription drug again. The drug has been nonprescription since the 1970s.

Pseudoephedrine, used for decades as an inexpensive key ingredient in cough and cold remedies, is also the key ingredient in methamphetamines or crystal meth.

Alabama passed a law in 2005 requiring all nonprescription drugs that contain pseudoephedrine to be sold only behind a pharmacy counter and in small amounts. The law also requires purchasers to show identification and sign for the drug.

Law enforcement officers who pushed for the 2005 law believed it would make it harder for people who "cook" crystal meth to get enough pseudoephedrine to manufacture the illicit drug.

"Addicts and their friends go place to place buying pseudoephedrine in small amounts until they get enough," Hammon said. He believes making the drug prescription would reduce access to ingredients for highly addictive crystal meth.

Hammon pointed to Oregon's law enacted in 2006 and the statistics on meth production.

"Violent crime and property crimes like burglary went down significantly in Oregon since then," Hammon said.

As pseudoephedrine supplies in Oregon became harder to get, addicts turned to Mexico for their supplies, but Oregon asked for Mexico's help to make the drug harder to get there. Mexico banned the drug altogether.

Oregon news organizations, including The Oregonian in Portland, credit the state's pseudoephedrine law with reduced meth-related crime.

Hammon said he's not trying to ban sale of pseudoephedrine in Alabama, but believes making it sold by prescription would help Alabama reduce meth-related addiction and crimes.

M.J. Ellington is the Montgomery bureau chief for the TimesDaily.