METH LAB BILL NEARS FINAL PASSAGE

Measure Also Goes After Internet Drugs

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A bill aimed at curbing Kentucky's growing
methamphetamine problem and regulating prescription drugs sold over the
Internet moved closer to becoming law yesterday.

Senate Bill 63 passed the House 97-0 and is expected to pass the Senate and
receive Gov. Ernie Fletcher's signature.

Originally two bills, the combination represents Kentucky's broadest
drug-control bill in recent years, supporters said.

"This may be, in my opinion, the most important bill we pass this session,"
said House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown.

The bill will require pharmacies to keep cold and allergy medication with
pseudoephedrine behind the counter or in a locked cabinet. Pseudoephedrine
is a key ingredient for making meth.

Customers will be limited to buying medications containing 9 grams of
pseudoephedrine per month, or about 300 Sudafed tablets, and will be
required to show an ID and sign a log.

The bill also will strengthen a law used to prosecute meth manufacturers,
create a law making it illegal to make meth in the presence of children and
hold meth makers liable for the cost of cleaning up labs.

The measure also will help the state regulate Internet pharmacies that sell
drugs without valid prescriptions.

Felecia Peacock of Bowling Green, a former meth user who works at a halfway
house for recovering addicts, said she thinks the legislation will help
curb meth abuse.

But to combat the problem effectively, she said, the state must also expand
resources for treatment.

"This war on drugs is definitely something that we're losing," Peacock said.

The Courier-Journal reported in December that meth has spread rapidly
through Kentucky, clogging jails and prisons, ravaging families and
increasing demand for drug treatment. It found that the state had failed to
keep pace with other states by more closely regulating the sale of cold and
allergy medications.

"This is a great first step for the major fight we're in against meth and
other drugs," Lt. Gov. Steve Pence said of yesterday's vote, which he
watched from the House floor.

As Justice secretary, Pence helped draft the bill, which goes back to the
Senate for consideration of a House committee's amendment merging the
Internet drug sale provisions with the meth crackdown. Amendments withdrawn

Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, the bill's sponsor, said he foresees no
problem with the combined bill passing the Senate, and Pence said he will
continue to work for its final passage.

He said Gov. Ernie Fletcher is ready to sign the bill, which will take
effect 90 days after the session ends.

The bill had been controversial with retailers and a few lawmakers because
it would impose new restrictions on tablets of over-the-counter cold and
allergy medicines such as Sudafed and Claritin D.

The House delayed voting on the bill after Rep. Frank Rasche, D-Paducah,
filed two amendments that Stivers had said would gut the bill by loosening
those restrictions.

But Rasche withdrew the amendments yesterday, saying it was not his intent
to weaken the measure.

"Meth is an atrocious scourge on society," Rasche said.

He had proposed letting any retailer sell over-the-counter cold medication
and changing the bill to increase the number of tablets people could buy
per month.

"I'm just trying to think about the consumer," he said.

Joel Thornbury, a Pikeville pharmacist and president of the Kentucky
Pharmacists Association, said he believes the restrictions will help the
meth problem, even though it means more work for pharmacists.

"Pharmacists, we are busy," he said. "But it is to help law enforcement,
and I support that."

State Rep. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, echoed Peacock's comments when she spoke
on behalf of the bill, calling on the state to offer more drug treatment.

"It's a crucial part of solving the entire problem," Webb said.

Pence said the administration is committed to expanding treatment. Internet
drug buying

Attorney General Greg Stumbo pushed the Internet drug portion of the bill,
which would crack down on so-called "rogue pharmacies" that ship drugs to
customers in Kentucky without valid prescriptions.

Stumbo said such drug orders have been an especially acute problem in his
home region of Eastern Kentucky.

Thornbury said he supports efforts to restrict Internet access to such
drugs as narcotic painkillers and tranquilizers. He said such access allows
people to bypass doctors and pharmacists and can lead to abuse and
diversion of addictive drugs.

The bill requires out-of-state pharmacies that do business in Kentucky to
be certified through a national board. It also authorizes the state Board
of Pharmacy to regulate them in Kentucky and requires them to post a valid
return address and proof of certification. The state could seize any
shipments without those labels.

It also requires people who order such drugs to have a valid prescription
and have had a recent, face-to-face consultation with a physician.