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April 10, 2011

Efforts to force prescriptions for some medicines gaining support

By Sam Rolley The Cullman Times

CULLMAN — When it comes to legislation that would make ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine controlled substances in Alabama, those who make the law, those who enforce it, and those who must abide by it seem to be on a unified front against those who choose to break it.

Earlier this month at least two bills introduced in the Alabama House of Representatives targeted medications currently sold over the counter, which also happen to be key ingredients in the manufacturing process of methamphetamine. Each bill proposes that the Alabama State Board of Health classify the three as Schedule III controlled substances, allowing purchase by prescription only.

Among those who say that they would be in support of such legislation are law enforcement officials who spend countless hours investigating possible methamphetamine labs throughout Cullman County.

Gene Bates, who heads up narcotics investigations at the Cullman Police Department, said that classifying pseudoephedrine and the like as controlled substances will make the officer’s job easier in combating the growing meth epidemic.

“I definitely support this kind of legislation; if the numbers that have been recorded by other states are any indicator, this will cut down tremendously the number of meth labs that pop up in the state,” he said. “Anything that gives officers another means to combat this epidemic is a welcome idea.”

Bates said that law enforcement agencies throughout Cullman, in collaboration with countywide narcotics division C-NET, come in contact with methamphetamine every day in the area. During investigations C-NET officers and informants regularly buy methamphetamine from dealers in the county two or three times in a day, according to Bates.

“Meth is a terrible epidemic, people are aware of this,” he said. “The ease of manufacture and availability of ingredients has made this one of the most common street drugs available and one of the hardest to eradicate.”

Currently retailers who sell pseudoephedrine must log each purchase with a federal computer database that keeps track of the frequency and amount of the drug purchased by an individual. The program requires that customers provide valid identification and can notify the retailer to decline sale if the customer has purchased alerting amounts of pseudoephedrine in a given period of time.

* Read more in the Sunday, April 10, 2011, edition of The Cullman Times.

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